The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on the Biden administration to admit that the Israeli government’s escalating campaign of ethnic cleansing in Rafah and its blockade of aid violates both President Biden’s red lines and U.S. law.
UNRWA, the U.N. aid agency in Gaza, estimated 360,000 people had fled Rafah since the first evacuation order a week ago. Israel stepped up aerial and ground attacks in eastern areas of the city while Palestinians packed cars, trucks and carts to flee the mass bombing.
SEE: Hundreds of thousands flee Rafah as fighting intensifies in Gaza
At the same time, dozens of members of Tzav 9, a far-right Israeli extremist group, vandalized several humanitarian aid trucks bound for Gaza in the southern West Bank today.
SEE: Israeli Activists Block Humanitarian Aid Shipment Headed to Gaza
In statement, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said:
“The Israeli government continues to flout all of the Biden administration’s ever-shifting red lines on Rafah, as well as U.S. law that forbids aid recipients from blocking humanitarian deliveries. Just like in other cities across Gaza, we are witnessing the ethnic cleansing of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their land and the slaughter of countless civilians. It is time for the Biden administration to admit the obvious, fully cut off the flow of weapons to the Israeli government, demand an immediate ceasefire and hold Israeli officials to account for their crimes against humanity.”
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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