The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today said a call to “annihilate” cities and refugee camps in Gaza by an Israeli official is further evidence of that far-right government’s genocidal intent.
Haaretz reported that Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is a member of the security cabinet, called for the “total annihilation” of Rafah and other areas of Gaza.
He said on Monday: “There are no half measures. [The Gazan cities of] Rafah, Deir al-Balah, Nuseirat – total annihilation. ‘You will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.”
In a statement, CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper said:
“In case the Israeli government’s genocidal intent in Gaza was unclear to anyone despite its daily war crimes against the Palestinian people, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s words should serve as another wake-up call. The intent of the Netanyahu government has always been Palestinian land without Palestinians, and violence has always been the route to achieve that heinous goal. Instead of condemning college students, President Biden must condemn Israeli leaders for making and acting on their genocidal threats.”
Earlier today, CAIR today condemned a decision by the Biden administration to violate U.S. law by continuing to fund units of the Israeli military that have been determined to have committed “gross violation of human rights.”
CAIR called on members of the U.S. House of Representatives to reject “one-sided, and dishonest” proposals about campus antisemitism that ignore anti-Palestinian racism and conflate criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism.
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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