The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today welcomed a 6-0 vote by the Iowa City, Iowa, city council to deny the purchase a new trash compactor because it was manufactured by Caterpillar, which is on the city’s Israeli divestment list.
The Daily Iowan reports: “City councilors voted down the purchase following an Aug. 5 boycott resolution stating the council would block any future investments in companies supporting Israel, including Caterpillar…According to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, Caterpillar has been approved to continue to supply the Israeli military with D9 bulldozers used for engineering tasks in combat and path clearing.”
In a statement, Washington, D.C., based CAIR said:
“We commend the Iowa City Council for standing by its values and taking principled action to ensure public funds are not used to support companies allegedly complicit in human rights abuses. Upholding divestment policies is a meaningful step toward justice and accountability, and we encourage other cities to follow suit.”
CAIR said it supports the right of local communities to make ethical decisions about public spending in accordance with international human rights standards.
In August, CAIR welcomed a decision by Norway’s $2 trillion wealth fund, the world’s largest, to divest from construction equipment manufacturer Caterpillar over Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
In July, CAIR condemned the reported delivery of dozens of U.S. bulldozers to the Israeli military for use in its ethnic cleansing of Gaza and the illegally-occupied West Bank.
Earlier today, CAIR called on the Trump administration to “put American first” following a new report by the Costs of War project at Brown University that the United States spent more than $30 billion in support of Israel’s genocide and its other wars in the Middle East over the past two years beyond the $3.8 billion Israel already receives every year.
Yesterday, CAIR marked two years since the Oct. 7 attack in Israel and the start of the genocide in Gaza by reiterating its opposition to all violence against civilians, calling for America’s political leaders to do the same and saying that it is “long past time” for the genocide to end, for all hostages and political prisoners to go free, and for a credible path to establishing a liberated Palestinian state free from Israeli occupation or western colonial oversight.
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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