The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today said Congress must take immediate action to end U.S. complicity in Israel’s war crimes after Amnesty International released a report accusing the Israeli government of carrying out a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Palestinians in the illegally-occupied West Bank.
According to the report, more than 100 Palestinian communities have been fully or partially emptied since 2023 amid escalating government-backed settler violence, home demolitions, forced displacement, and settlement expansion.
In a statement, Washington, D.C.-based CAIR said:
“Amnesty International’s findings confirm what Palestinians, human rights organizations, and international observers have documented for years: the forced displacement of Palestinians in the illegally-occupied West Bank is not the result of isolated acts by extremist settlers, but part of a broader state-backed effort to seize Palestinian land and permanently alter the demographic reality of the territory.
“Congress can no longer claim ignorance while American taxpayer dollars continue to support a government carrying out genocide, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and other grave violations of international law. The United States must end military support that enables these abuses, enforce existing laws prohibiting assistance to human rights violators, and demand accountability for those responsible.”
Yesterday, CAIR announced that it has sent a letter to Congress urging lawmakers to reject any provision that would establish or expand a permanent U.S.-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative, including language substantially similar to Section 224 adopted by the House Armed Services Committee.
CLICK HERE: READ CAIR’S LETTER
On Friday, CAIR condemned the inclusion and advancement of Section 224 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in the House Armed Services Committee. CAIR urges the Senate Armed Services Committee to remove Section 224 from the NDAA and calls on members of the House of Representatives to reject the provision should it advance to the House floor.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com