The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today criticized the White House communications department for launching a “unnecessary and unfounded” attack on Rep. Cori Bush while repeatedly ignoring anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim rhetoric by elected officials.
When she was asked about President Biden’s thoughts on Bush’s vow to challenge the pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said:
“It is important — important that we be very mindful of what we say. This kind of rhetoric is inflammatory and divisive and incredibly unhelpful. We’re going to continue to condemn any type of political rhetoric in that way, in that vein. And so, it is important to be mindful in what we say and how we say it. But we cannot have this type of inflammatory, divisive language in our political discourse.”
In a statement, CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said:
“The White House’s communications department has repeatedly ignored both anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian hate speech and hate crimes while seeking every opportunity to attack advocates for Palestinian human rights, including Rep. Cori Bush. Jumping to the defense of the anti-Palestinian hate group AIPAC while repeatedly failing to defend American Muslims and Palestinian Americans is unacceptable. This pattern of selective condemnation must stop.
“The White House said nothing in response to Rep. Brian Mast analogizing Palestinian civilians to Nazis, Governor Josh Shapiro equating college students protesting the Gaza genocide with KKK members, President Trump using ‘Palestinian’ as a racist slur, Republicans slandering Rep. Rashida Tlaib and other Muslim members of Congress, or the Israeli government’s various genocidal words and war crimes.
“It should not take a six-year-old Palestinian boy being stabbed or three college kids being shot to attract White House attention.”
Earlier this month, CAIR sent the White House Communications Department a detailed letter expressing concern about its pattern of ignoring anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian hate crimes and hate speech while simultaneously jumping at every opportunity condemn advocates of Palestinian, sometimes based on manufactured controversies.
SEE: CAIR Letter to White House Communications Department
CAIR also asked the White House to condemn the attempted drowning of Muslim Palestinian children at a pool in Texas. It did so the following day but has not condemned any anti-Muslim or anti-Palestinian incidents since then.
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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