The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on the Biden administration to take responsibility for its role in the ongoing surge in Islamophobia and to match its rhetoric on the International Day to Combat Islamophobia with concrete action by ending the biggest driver of Islamophobia: the genocidal war in Gaza.
SEE: Statement from President Joe Biden on the International Day to Combat Islamophobia | The White House
In response to President Biden’s statement marking the International Day to Combat Islamophobia, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said:
“The biggest driving forces behind anti-Muslim bigotry in America today are the genocide in Gaza and the use of anti-Muslim bigotry and anti-Palestinian racism to smear and silence American Muslims who speak up for Palestinian human rights. If President Biden is serious about countering the surge in Islamophobia, the most important thing he can do is end the genocide.
“The White House must also take responsibility for its role in contributing to the unprecedented surge in Islamophobia over the past five months. By smearing American Muslim members of Congress as ‘repugnant’ and ‘disgraceful’ when they first called for a ceasefire, by justifying the killing of innocent Palestinian as ‘the price of war,’ by refusing to listen to American Muslim groups who warned of the rising threat of bigotry days after Oct. 7th, and by funding the genocide in Gaza, the Biden administration bears some responsibility for the surge in Islamophobia.
“It is time for a real change, not just improved rhetoric. The White House cannot condemn violence against a Palestinian Muslim child here in America while simultaneously enabling the mass murder of Palestinian Muslim children in Gaza, nor can the White House call the destruction in Gaza ‘devastating’ while at the same time sending weapons to those causing the devastation.
“Dehumanizing Palestinians in Gaza and justifying violence against mosques in Gaza has obvious consequences for Muslims and mosques here in America.
“The U.S. political and military support of the Israeli government’s genocidal murder of over 32,000 Palestinians in Gaza, and injuring 73,000 more, has directly contributed to inspiring attacks on Palestinians, Muslims, and Arabs in the United States. Some of our fellow Americans will not treat Muslims as neighbors as long as our government continues to justify the mass murder of Muslims overseas.”
“We urge President Biden to match his words with meaningful actions by listening to the American Muslim community’s clear demands, using U.S. leverage to secure an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, and then pursuing a just, lasting peace by ending the occupation that has sparked decades of violence conflict.
“Only then can other long overdue steps that American Muslims have sought, like creating a special envoy at the U.S. State Department to Monitor and Combat Islamophobia and ending the abuses of the Orwellian watchlist with over a million Muslim names, be effective or taken seriously. Only then can we truly combat Islamophobia and create a world where all individuals can live without fear of persecution.”
In commemoration of the UN’s International Day to Combat Islamophobia, CAIR today joined an international coalition of Muslim advocacy organizations in “calling the attention of those committed to advancing justice for all people to injustices being perpetrated by the governments of Israel, India, China, and France.”
Domestically, CAIR reports that the last three months of 2023 saw a relentless wave of Islamophobic bias.
SEE: Joint International Statement for UN’s Second International Day to Combat Islamophobia
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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, 202-742-6448, 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