The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on the Biden administration to “finally act” following new reports that Israeli forces are raping Palestinians held in detention camps.
Palestinian lawyer Khaled Mahajna said he visited two Gazan detainees on Sunday in Ofer Prison near Ramallah in the West Bank. One of the detainees, a journalist, described witnessing the rape of Gazan detainees. The lawyer said prisoners were also stripped naked, electrocuted, subjected to sexual abuse, and were forced to lie on the ground with their hands bound behind their heads while being attacked by police dogs. More than 9,000 Palestinian detainees are held by Israel.
SEE: Gazan detainees face torture, rape in Israeli prisons: Lawyer
In a statement, CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said:
“How many credible reports of the rape, torture, abuse, and summary execution of Palestinian detainees must Biden administration officials hear before they finally act to stop those war crimes? The Biden administration’s silence, and its continuing complicity with the Israeli genocide, are in direct opposition to the majority of Americans who support limiting U.S. aid to Israel and an immediate, permanent ceasefire.”
He noted that CAIR has repeatedly called on the Biden administration to address reports of rape and torture in Israeli detention centers.
Yesterday, CAIR condemned both an Israeli massacre of at least 20 Palestinian worshippers praying in the ruins of a Gaza mosque previously destroyed by Israel and a similar massacre of 15 people at a UN-run school sheltering displaced Palestinians.
On Saturday, CAIR called on President Biden to “stop enabling” the mass slaughter of Palestinian civilians after Israel killed at least 90 Palestinians and wounded hundreds in strikes on the al-Mawasi “safe zone” in Gaza.
[NOTE: Al-Mawasi, where Palestinians forced from their homes across Gaza sought shelter, was designated as a “safe humanitarian zone” by the Israeli military.]
CAIR also condemned a newly-reported decision by the Biden administration not to sanction an Israeli army unit despite evidence of gross human rights abuses it committed against Palestinian civilians, including the murder of an elderly Palestinian-American. CNN quoted a former member of the unit who said: “A lot of us probably did not see Arabs, Palestinians in particular, as someone with rights – okay, like they’re really the occupier of some of the land and they need to be moved.”
CAIR recently condemned a reported decision by the Biden administration to send Israel the 500-pound bombs for its genocide in Gaza that had previously been held back.
Israel has slaughtered almost 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children. Other estimates put the total death toll at 186,000. The vast majority of Gazans have been driven from their homes.
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 National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com