The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on Congress to take immediate action to prevent U.S. funding of Israel’s planned occupation and ethnic cleansing of civilians in southern Lebanon following statements by Israeli officials indicating that it would occupy Lebanon up to the Litani River and would ethnically-cleanse the population.
SEE: Israel vows to occupy large parts of southern Lebanon to expand buffer zone
Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz is quoted as saying all houses in Lebanese villages near the Israeli border will be demolished “like in Rafah and Beit Hanoun,” referring to Israel’s ethnic cleansing campaign in the Gaza genocide. More than 600,000 forcibly-displaced Lebanese residents would be barred from returning to their homes.
Israel has already slaughtered more than 1,200 people in Lebanon since March 2, including 125 children and 88 women.
In a statement, Washington, D.C., based CAIR said:
“Any plan that involves the ethnic cleansing of civilian populations or the long-term occupation of their land must be unequivocally rejected by our government and the international community. Congress cannot remain silent as Israel openly announces that it plans to expand it Gaza genocide to Lebanon. American taxpayer dollars must not be sent to Israel to enable its crimes against humanity.”
Earlier today, CAIR called on Congress to condemn a new racist Israeli law that would impose the death penalty exclusively on Palestinians and oppose any new U.S. taxpayer funding for Israeli acts of genocide, an apartheid regime tied to an Israeli supremacist ideology, illegal land theft, and regional war.
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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