The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on members of Congress to condemn a brutal attack by Israeli settlers on a 50-year-old Palestinian woman and the NBC news crew that was interviewing her.
Masked Israeli settlers attacked and injured a Palestinian woman and members of an NBC News team reporting in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Saturday. Three members of an NBC team were interviewing Aida Ahmed Abdullah and her family in the Palestinian town of Jalud, near Nablus, when the attack occurred. Abdullah said they had been driven out of their home by Israeli settlers, and the team was walking down a hill toward the house.
WATCH: NBC’S Matt Bradley Discusses the Attack
SEE: Masked Israeli settlers attack Palestinian woman, NBC News team in West Bank
In a statement, CAIR said:
“This horrific attack on American journalists is typical of extremist Israeli settlers, whose violence and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians has been supported and defended by the Israeli apartheid government. Let’s be clear. Israeli settlers are not rogue actors; they are doing exactly what the Israeli government has enabled them to do.”
“Israeli settlers and military forces have also consistently targeted journalists to ensure their atrocities are not exposed to the American people and the people of the world. We call on all members of Congress and all members of the American media to condemn this attack. These crimes keep happening because our government continues to fund and enable the Israeli government, regardless of the crimes it commits. This must end.”
CAIR has previously condemned Israel’s targeting of journalists.
CAIR Condemns Illegal Israeli Settlers’ Attack on Reuters Journalists, Olive Harvesters
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, [email protected]; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, [email protected]; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, [email protected]; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, [email protected]