(WASHINGTON, D.C., 6/6/23) – The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today expressed support for a call by Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md) for the Biden administration to declassify its report on the murder of American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by the Israeli military.
In a statement following his review of the summation report on Abu Akleh’s shooting death produced by the United States Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority (USSC), Sen. Van Hollen wrote in part:
“Following my viewing of the USSC report, I urge the Administration to immediately declassify it in its entirety. I strongly believe that its public release is vital to ensuring transparency and accountability in the shooting death of American citizen and journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and to avoiding future preventable and wrongful deaths – goals we should all support.”
US Report on Abu Akleh Killing Must Be Made Public, Senator Urges
In a statement, CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said:
“We support and applaud Senator Van Hollen’s call for the Biden administration to fully declassify the report into the Israeli military’s brazen murder of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. The Israeli sniper who took Ms. Abu Akleh’s life must be held accountable by our government, which must also stop enabling the far-right Israeli apartheid government’s escalating human rights abuses against the Palestinian people.”
Last November, CAIR welcomed reports that the FBI would investigate Abu Akleh’s murder.
In September of last year, CAIR applauded U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and other members of the committee, for introducing a legislative reporting requirement instructing the State Department to conduct an “independent, credible, and transparent investigation into the shooting death of Palestinian-American citizen and journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.”
Also that month, CAIR condemned the State Department’s “shameful refusal” to hold the Israeli government accountable for murdering Akleh following its “welcoming” the Israeli military’s report that concluded there was a “high probability” that an Israeli soldier unintentionally killed her during a raid in the West Bank.
While the Israeli military knows the identity of Abu Akleh’s murderer, it has said that no one would be investigated or punished for her killing.
CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
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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 Coordinator Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com