The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned U.S. negotiators for withdrawing from Gaza ceasefire talks and trying to give the Israeli government cover to continue its genocide
The United States is recalling its negotiating team from ceasefire talks in Doha. In a post on X, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff blamed only Hamas and said the U.S. “will now consider alternative options to bring the hostages home and try to create a more stable environment for the people of Gaza.” He provided no details on alternative options.
In a statement, CAIR Deputy Executive Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said:
“We strongly condemn the Trump administration’s negotiators for walking away from ceasefire discussions while trying to give Benjamin Netanyahu political cover to continue starving, bombing and ethnically cleansing everyone in Gaza.
“Steve Witkoff knows that Netanyahu and his cabinet of openly racist, genocidal fascists do not want to permanently stop the genocide in Gaza, even if carrying on means leaving more hostages to die in Israel’s indiscriminate bombing campaign or to starve to death alongside the Palestinian people. Yet whenever push comes to shove in recent negotiations, Mr. Witkoff has parroted the Israeli government’s line and given Netanyahu cover to continue the genocide.
“This is not a complicated deal and it should have been made over a year ago: Israel’s genocide and occupation of Gaza should permanently end, all hostages and political prisoners should go free without delay, massive amounts of humanitarian aid should enter Gaza under UN supervision, the reconstruction of Gaza should begin without ethnically cleansing the Palestinian people from their land, and serious, good-faith negotiations to address all other matters should begin.
“Until the Israeli government’s enablers in the United States, Europe and the Arab world use their military, economic, diplomatic and financial influence to force a ceasefire on the Netanyahu government, no one should expect its genocide to stop.”
Earlier today, CAIR condemned the Israeli government’s US-backed, man-made famine in Gaza as a “historic atrocity” after at least 113 people died of starvation.
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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