The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called for the resignation of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken after he reportedly lied to Congress after two government authorities concluded that Israel deliberately blocked deliveries of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
According to ProPublica: “The U.S. Agency for International Development delivered its assessment to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the State Department’s refugees bureau made its stance known to top diplomats in late April. Their conclusion was explosive because U.S. law requires the government to cut off weapons shipments to countries that prevent the delivery of U.S.-backed humanitarian aid. Israel has been largely dependent on American bombs and other weapons in Gaza since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.
“But Blinken and the administration of President Joe Biden did not accept either finding. Days later, on May 10, Blinken delivered a carefully worded statement to Congress that said, ‘We do not currently assess that the Israeli government is prohibiting or otherwise restricting the transport or delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance.’”
In a statement, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said:
“Secretary Blinken and the Biden administration ignored Israel’s blocking of humanitarian aid to the suffering people of Gaza – which is a violation of American law – and lied about it to Congress. When a senior American official lies to Congress in the middle of genocide so that the government can keep funding that genocide, he is deliberately flouting the law and prolonging the suffering of millions of innocent people who desperately need our government to stop funding their slaughter.
“Secretary Blinken may have committed a crime with his lies. The American people deserve honest and upright leaders to represent their values and protect their interests.
“He must resign, and the Biden administration must be held accountable for its violation of the law and its complicity in the Israeli genocide in Gaza.”
Last month, CAIR said Blinken should resign after reports that he has ended the investigation into the Israel military’s Netzah Yehuda battalion for war crimes human rights violations in the occupied West Bank.
Yesterday, CAIR repeated its call for the Biden administration to impose an arms embargo on Israel as that nation’s far-right government launched attacks on Lebanon using American weapons that have already killed hundreds, including many women and children.
CAIR also said the arms embargo was necessary immediately because of a proposed Israeli “extermination zone” in Gaza in which every remaining human being would be starved to death or targeted by U.S. weapons.
Over the weekend, CAIR called on President Biden to take action to rein in the “out-of-control” far-right government of Benjamin Netanyahu after Israel again slaughtered Palestinian children in Gaza.
Israel’s genocide in Gaza has already resulted in the killing of at least 41,272 Palestinians, including 16,795 children and 11,378 women. Most Gazans have been forced from their homes, which were then destroyed in a Israeli campaign of mass destruction and ethnic cleansing.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@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