TAKE ACTION: Calling on Your Members of Congress to Demand Immediate Release of 20-Year-Old Student Sama Safi
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, alongside its Florida chapter (CAIR-Florida), today issued a joint statement commending U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) for his strong stance demanding the immediate release of Sama Safi, a 20-year-old American citizen and student who was kidnapped by the Israeli military in the occupied West Bank.
CAIR AND CAIR-Florida are also calling on all Americans to urge their members of Congress to join Senator Van Hollen in demanding Sama Safi’s immediate release.
ACT NOW: CLICK HERE TO SEND YOUR MSG TO CONGRESS TODAY!
On Tuesday at 3:00 a.m., Israeli soldiers broke down the door of her family’s home, taking the Birzeit University honors student into custody without charge or explanation. Despite informing the soldiers of her U.S. citizenship, her status was ignored. They dragged her out of the home and brought her to Ofer Israeli military prison, where she was interrogated, and she is now being held at the notorious Moscovia Interrogation Center in Jerusalem.
Sama has a medical condition that requires daily medication and causes fever spikes to 105° F and episodes of inflammation that cause debilitating pain throughout her body. The only way Sama can manage her health condition is through daily medication and a quarterly injection that she has to travel abroad to receive. The Israeli military is aware of Sama’s medical condition and have not allowed her access to medication for several days now and her family is unaware of her current health status.
Sama Safi‘s family, residents of Florida, reached out to Senator Chris Van Hollen’s office with the limited known details of Sama’s abduction and her delicate health conditions.
In a statement broadcast on his official X account, Senator Van Hollen sharply criticized the incident and called upon U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee to secure her immediate release. Van Hollen stated, “I am really sick and tired of the Israeli government — the Netanyahu government — taking American taxpayer dollars and then mistreating Americans. America must secure her release NOW.”
CAIR and CAIR-Florida echoed the Senator’s calls, emphasizing that the ongoing culture of impunity afforded to the Israeli military endangers American citizens abroad.
In a statement, CAIR and CAIR-FL said:
“We welcome and firmly stand behind Senator Van Hollen’s urgent demand for the immediate release of Sama Safi. It is utterly unacceptable that an American citizen can be dragged from her home in the dead of night and denied contact with both her family and her own government.
“For too long, the United States has tolerated the systematic abuse, unlawful detention, and even killing of its own citizens by the Israeli military without holding foreign authorities accountable. The State Department must match its stated priority of protecting Americans abroad with immediate, decisive action to bring Sama Safi home safely.”
Both civil rights organizations are urging the Trump administration, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Florida’s congressional delegation to aggressively intervene in Safi’s case, ensuring her constitutional rights as a U.S. citizen are respected and that she is granted immediate consular access and medical attention. Both organizations are calling for the release of all students unlawfully abducted by the Israeli military.
### END ###
CONTACT:
CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper | 202-742-6410 | ihooper@cair.com
CAIR-Florida Media & Communications Director Wilfredo Amr Ruiz | 305-502-6749 | wruiz@cair.com