The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned President Trump’s repetition of a lie told yesterday by his press secretary about an alleged blocking of $50 million in aid for condoms to be sent to Gaza, even after the White House walked back that false claim.
WATCH THE VIDEO OF TRUMP REPEATING THE FALSE CLAIM.
Yesterday, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt falsely claimed that Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and the White House Office for Management and Budget blocked “$50 million taxpayer dollars that went out the door to fund condoms in Gaza” and called the alleged expenditure “a preposterous waste of taxpayer money.”
The Guardian reports: “According to a comprehensive report issued in September by the US Agency for International Development (USAid), not a penny of the $60.8m in contraceptive and condom shipments funded by the US in the past year went to Gaza. In fact, the accounting shows, there were no condoms sent to any part of the Middle East, and just one small shipment, $45,680 in oral and injectable contraceptives, was sent to the region, all of it distributed to the government of Jordan.”
SEE: Analysis | $50 million for condoms in Gaza? There’s no evidence of the White House claim. – Washington Post
In a statement, CAIR said:
“Only an intense hatred for the Palestinian people could lead the White House to rush out this ridiculous and dehumanizing lie about $50 million for condoms in Gaza. Policies must be based on facts and truth, not on fantasies and falsehoods. Instead of expressing outrage about imaginary money for condoms in Gaza, the administration should express outrage about the billions in real American tax dollars wasted on the Israeli government’s mass slaughter, destruction, ethnic cleansing, and forced starvation in Gaza. Amateur hour at the White House press office must end.”
Earlier today, CAIR called a reported Trump administration executive order attacking free speech and dismissing Palestinian suffering under the guise of combatting antisemitism a “dishonest, overbroad and unenforceable” attempt to smear college students who protested against the Israeli government’s genocidal war on Gaza in overwhelmingly peaceful ways.
Washington, D.C., based CAIR recently responded to President Trump floating the idea of ethnically cleansing Gaza by moving millions of Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan “delusional and dangerous nonsense.”
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, [email protected]; CAIR Director of Government Affairs Department Robert S. McCaw, 202-716-6242, [email protected]; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, [email protected]; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, [email protected]