The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today said a senior Israeli government official public boast that Israeli forces had destroyed between 15,000 and 20,000 homes in southern Lebanon is another confirmation of that genocidal regime’s war crimes.
In an interview, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said: “The army systematically flattened the villages with bulldozers and explosives. Ninety percent of the houses are gone. Between 15,000 and 20,000 homes have been destroyed.”
In a statement, Washington, D.C., based CAIR said:
“The only thing worse than Israel’s use of American taxpayer dollars to destroy civilian homes, towns and infrastructure in Lebanon is its public boasting about its crimes against humanity. Our own government and the international community must reject Israel’s dangerous normalization of ethnic cleansing. International law exists to protect civilians during armed conflict, and those who openly celebrate violations of those laws should face, at the very least, sanctions.”
Over the weekend, CAIR called on members of Congress to publicly condemn the reported detention of U.S. Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA) by armed Israeli settlers and soldiers during his visit to the illegally-occupied West Bank.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, [email protected]; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, [email protected]; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, [email protected]; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, [email protected]