The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on U.S. media outlets and journalists to condemn Israel’s latest killings and attacks on journalists in Gaza and the West Bank.
Israel murdered five journalists in a targeted strike on a van with clear press markings outside the Al-Awda Hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp. Video posted online also shows an Israeli four-wheel drive trying to run over a journalist in the occupied West Bank during live coverage of an Israeli raid on a refugee camp in Tulkarem.
Israel has killed more than 130 Palestinian reporters since the beginning of its genocide and does not allow foreign journalists to enter Gaza, except with military escorts. [NOTE: Israeli forces have slaughtered more 45,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children. Israel labels those it kills as “terrorists,” despite Israeli media reports quoting an officer who said: “We’re killing civilians there who are then counted as terrorists.”]
After Israeli forces killed four Palestinian journalists in Gaza earlier this month, the Committee to Protect Journalists called on the international community to hold Israel accountable for its attacks against the media.
In a statement, CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper said:
“By remaining silent as their Palestinian colleagues are killed, kidnapped and attacked, American media professionals give tacit approval to the far-right Israeli government to continue its campaign of censorship targeting all those who expose its ongoing genocide. The genocidal Israeli government enjoys impunity in attacking the media because of a lack of reporting on its killings, attacks and kidnappings targeting journalists. This must stop, and journalists must begin to accurately report on Israel’s slaughter, mass destruction, forced starvation, and ethnic cleansing, and call it what it is – ‘genocide.’”
He noted that CAIR has repeatedly condemned Israeli killing and kidnapping of journalists.
Last week, CAIR demanded the release of a journalist reportedly abducted by Israeli forces at a checkpoint in Gaza during ongoing ethnic cleansing in the area.
Yesterday, CAIR condemned comments by the U.S. Ambassador to Israel Jacob Lew dismissing a report by U.S.-backed agency on Israel’s campaign of forced starvation in northern Gaza by stating that the ethnic cleansing of the area was largely completed.
Earlier this week, CAIR reiterated its call for the American Medical Association (AMA) to condemn Israel’s attacks on medical facilities in Gaza as three hospitals in devastated northern Gaza are under siege or face forced evacuation.
Israel has slaughtered more than 45,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children.
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 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