The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today said the Biden administration must respond to a new report by Amnesty International saying that Israel’s “wanton destruction and collective punishment” in Gaza must be investigated as a war crime.
According to that report, Israel’s military is committing the war crimes of wanton destruction and collective punishment in Gaza, by creating a “buffer zone” along Gaza’s eastern perimeter with Israel and bulldozing and blowing up homes and farms across the area.
Satellite imagery shows that more than 90 percent of the buildings within the area – or more than 3,500 structures – appear destroyed or severely damaged. That damage was not caused by direct combat but through a systematic campaign of demolition.
In a statement, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said:
“For almost a year, the Biden administration has not only enabled the Israeli government to carry out genocide and crimes against humanity in Gaza but has directly aided and abetted that government in these atrocities. Virtually every human rights organization in the world has condemned Israel’s genocidal actions. President Biden himself said that Israel is bombing Palestinians ‘indiscriminately.’ It is time for the Biden administration to change course and demand an immediate ceasefire as well as end all military aid to the far-right Israeli government.”
Awad says Israel is clearly violating the Leahy Law, prohibiting the U.S. Government from using funds for assistance to units of foreign security forces where there is credible information implicating that unit in the commission of gross violations of human rights.
He noted that last month, CAIR condemned Israel’s systematic destruction of the civilian infrastructure in the occupied West Bank as part of the far-right Israeli government’s campaign of ethnic cleansing.
Yesterday, CAIR called on Apple, YouTube and other media platforms to drop a weekly Israeli podcast in English celebrating the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and calling for the killing of all Palestinians.
SEE: CAIR Calls on Apple, YouTube to Drop Podcast Celebrating Genocide of Palestinians in Gaza
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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