BREAKING: CAIR Says ‘No Need to Wait 30 Days’ After Biden Admin Threatens to Limit Arms for Israel in Response to Gaza Aid Blockade
CAIR Press Release: No Need to Wait 30 Days
- Ismail Allison 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com
- October 15, 2024
- 12:14 pm
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today said there is “no need to wait 30 days” after the Biden administration sent a letter to the Israeli government demanding it allow humanitarian aid into Gaza within the next 30 days or risk facing legally required limits on U.S. weapons transfers.
In their joint letter, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, ask for “urgent and sustained actions by your government this month to reverse this trajectory.”
The letter to Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant and Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer states in part:
“Israel must, starting now and within 30 days, act on the following concrete measures. Failure to demonstrate a sustained commitment to implementing and maintaining these measures may have implications for U.S. policy under NSM-20 and relevant U.S. law.”
“We are particularly concerned that recent actions by the Israeli government – including halting commercial imports, denying or impeding nearly 90 percent of humanitarian movements between northern and southern Gaza in September, continuing burdensome and excessive dual-use restrictions, and instituting new vetting and onerous liability and customs requirements for humanitarian staff and shipments – together with increased lawlessness and looting – are contributing to an accelerated deterioration in the conditions in Gaza.”
SEE: Biden administration writes to Israel demanding it improve Gaza humanitarian situation – CNN
In a statement, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said:
“Although we welcome the Biden administration’s long overdue threat to withhold weapons from the Israeli government, waiting 30 days to do so is unacceptable. The Israeli government is starving and killing the Palestinian people today, right this very moment, in violation of U.S. law. The Palestinian people cannot wait another month for the Biden administration to uphold the law and end its complicity in the Israeli government’s campaign of slaughter and starvation.”
He noted that yesterday, CAIR called on President Biden and Vice President Harris to watch the video of children being burned alive in their tents in the aftermath of an Israeli attack on a Gaza hospital courtyard and take action to force a ceasefire.
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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
