The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned new reports of Israeli forces using Palestinians as “human shields” and Israel’s plan for a new settlement on occupied Palestinian land and impacting UNESCO heritage site.
A report from the Israeli media outlet Haaretz revealed that the Israeli military has been using Palestinian civilians as human shields during its operations in Gaza and that high-ranking officials not only tolerate but actively endorse this war crime. Palestinian men, including the elderly and teenagers, have been forced to wear Israeli military uniforms and to assist in searches for tunnels and explosives.
[NOTE: CAIR has previously condemned Israeli use of Palestinian civilians as “human shields.”]
CAIR also condemned Israeli plans for a new illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank located within the Battir UNESCO World Heritage Site northwest of Bethlehem. UNESCO designated the site for its “characteristic stone terraces.”
In a statement, CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper said:
“As Israel’s far-right government continues its war crimes and ethnic cleansing, the Biden and Harris administration remains mute, and even actively supports the genocide. While the administration mouths support for a ceasefire, it refuses to put any real pressure on the genocidal Israeli government.”
Yesterday, CAIR condemned the Biden administration’s approval of a shipment of over $20 billion in arms to Israel.
Also yesterday, CAIR condemned the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, one of Islam’s holiest sites, by mobs of Israelis led by Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and called on the Biden administration to stop enabling this “increasingly radical and openly genocidal” government’s attempts to spark global religious war.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@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