The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned the GOP’s selection of genocidal anti-Palestinian racist Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) as chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the next Congress.
Last year, CAIR called for Mast to resign for his “call to commit genocide” after a speech on the House floor in which he said: “I would encourage the other side to not so lightly throw around the idea of innocent Palestinian civilians […] I don’t think we would so lightly throw around the term ‘innocent Nazi civilians.’”
Earlier this year, when asked by activists from Code Pink if he had seen images of Palestinian babies killed by Israeli forces, Rep. Mast said, “these are not innocent Palestinian civilians across the world.” When asked about people facing starvation in Gaza, he said that “the half a million people starving to death are people that should go out there and put a government in place that doesn’t […] attack Israel on a daily basis.”
Rep. Mast displayed no hesitation in stating how innocent Palestinian homes will continue to be destroyed; in a comment, he said: “There is more infrastructure that needs to be destroyed…and there will be more that is destroyed.”
Mast is a former volunteer in the Israeli military.
In a statement, CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw said:
“Brian Mast justified murdering Palestinian children. Brian Mast equated Palestinian civilians to Nazis. Brian Mast marched through Congress wearing an Israeli army uniform, representing a foreign military, while elected to serve the interests of American constituents. Brian Mast said ‘more infrastructure in Gaza needs to be destroyed.’
“Brian Mast might be the perfect person to serve as a spokesperson for the war criminals of the Israeli government, but he has no business running congressional hearings on sensitive international issues that impact our nation’s security.”
He noted that CAIR’s Florida chapter previously condemned anti-Palestinian remarks by Rep. Mast.
SEE: CAIR-FL Renews Calls to Censure FL Rep. Mast Following Latest Anti-Palestinian Genocidal Rhetoric
END
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