The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called Israel’s daily slaughter of men, women and children in Gaza – with U.S. support – a “mark of shame” as the official, significantly-undercounted death toll tracked by the Gaza Health Ministry passes 65,000.
The staggering death toll includes tens of thousands of women and children. Entire families have been wiped out. Neighborhoods, hospitals, mosques, and schools lie in ruins. Gaza’s infrastructure has been shattered beyond recognition.
SEE: Israeli troops press forward into Gaza City as Palestinians flee and death toll passes 65,000 – Associated Press
The true death toll is likely much higher than is known at this time with thousands of dead under the rubble. A study in The Lancet journal comparing obituaries published on social media with records kept by Gaza’s Ministry of Health concluded that the actual Gaza death toll was likely being under-reported by as much as 41 percent.
A secret Israeli intelligence database shows that least 83 percent of Palestinians slaughtered in Gaza were civilians – not combatants. Even former Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi acknowledged that more than 200,000 Palestinians have been killed or injured since the start of Israel’s Gaza genocide.
“What we are witnessing is not a war – it is the deliberate extermination of an entire population,” said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad. “This is a genocide. It is a stain on the conscience of the world and a permanent mark of shame on world leaders who have armed, funded or excused the Israeli occupation’s campaign of mass murder.”
Yesterday, CAIR said Israel’s genocide in Gaza is “undeniable” after release of a UN commission’s report on Israeli war crimes found that they constitute a genocide.
Earlier this month, CAIR called on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and other members of Congress who claim to support human rights to stop denying the Gaza genocide and support an arms embargo on the Israeli government after the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) overwhelmingly passed a resolution declaring that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
Earlier this year, CAIR welcomed the recognition of the Israeli government’s genocide in Gaza by two prominent Israeli human rights organizations.
Over the weekend, CAIR said Israel’s daily slaughter of Palestinian children must stop after 12 children were reported murdered by Israeli terror forces in Gaza
CAIR recently commended U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) for their courage and moral clarity in issuing a groundbreaking report accusing indicted war criminal Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of overseeing a campaign of “ethnic cleansing” against the Palestinian people – and implicating the U.S. government in complicity through its continued military and political support. WATCH.
Washington, D.C., based CAIR also called Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) an “accomplice in genocide” after he was caught on video denying the existence of the Israeli-manufactured famine in Gaza and falsely claiming that “Palestine is a made up fiction.”
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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