The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today said an announcement by the U.S. Department of State that it is halting all visitor visas for people from Gaza is the latest example of the Trump administration’s complicity with Israel’s genocide and seems to be “intentionally cruel.”
The department said on X (formerly Twitter): “All visitor visas for individuals from Gaza are being stopped while we conduct a full and thorough review of the process and procedures used to issue a small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas in recent days.”
Israel has reportedly slaughtered almost 62,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children. The true figure is likely to be much higher. Eleven people, including a child, have reportedly starved to death in Gaza in the past 24 hours.
More than 15,000 sick and wounded people need medical evacuation from Gaza.
In a statement, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said:
“Blocking Palestinian children injured by American weapons from coming to America for medical treatment is the latest sign that the intentional cruelty of President Trump’s ‘Israel First’ administration knows no bounds. It is also deeply ironic that the Trump administration would ban Palestinian children seeking treatment while rolling out the red carpet for racists and indicted war criminals from the Israeli government. This ban is just the latest example of our government’s complicity with Israel’s genocide, which is increasingly rejected by the American people.”
Yesterday, CAIR called a new United Nations report that Israel slaughtered at least 1,760 forcibly-starved Palestinians while they desperately sought food in Gaza “a moral indictment of Western governments.”
Last week, CAIR condemned the “glaring omission” of the Gaza genocide from the U.S. State Department’s latest Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, calling the report’s treatment of Israel deeply inadequate and morally indefensible.
CAIR also condemned Israel’s U.S.-backed “unrelenting slaughter” of forcibly-starved civilians in Gaza after at least 31 people were murdered as they desperately sought food for their starving families.
CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
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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