The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on members of Congress to reject any attempt by House Speaker Mike Johnson to invite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address to a joint session of Congress.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer today signaled that he won’t oppose inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress. House Speaker Mike Johnson said earlier today that he planned to invite Netanyahu to address at least the House, with or without Schumer’s approval.
SEE: Schumer signals approval of Netanyahu address to Congress
In a statement, CAIR Deputy Executive Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said:
“We call on congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle to reject any attempt to invite Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress while he perpetrates a genocide in Gaza and flouts even mild attempts by President Biden to rein him in.
“Netanyahu is racist, a corrupt politician and a genocidal war criminal whose government has spent five months massacring thousands of innocent people and years beforehand entrenching the occupation and undermining American presidents.
“Netanyahu should never set foot in the United States again, much less deliver another address to Congress; the only speech he should ever deliver outside of Israel is testimony at The Hague.”
He noted that yesterday, CAIR condemned the Biden administration’s complicity in the starvation of Palestinian civilians in Gaza after the UN said that the Israeli government is using starvation as a “weapon of war.”
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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, 202-999-8292, 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