By CAIR
Photos: YouTube Screenshots
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s apparent backtracking on sanctioning an Israeli military unit accused of war crimes and human rights violations.
The Biden administration reportedly put on hold its plan to sanction Israeli units believed to be involved in war crimes and human rights violations. One of the units, the Netzah Yehuda Battalion, came under criticism after its involvement in the killing of a 78-year-old Palestinian-American man in January. The U.S. has reportedly determined that the Israeli military unit committed gross human-rights abuses, but it will hold off on any decision due to push-back from officials of the far-right Israeli government.
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In a statement, CAIR Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said:
“Secretary Blinken’s apparent backtracking – under pressure from Israeli officials – on sanctioning military forces of the far-right Netanyahu government for their clear human rights abuses and violations of U.S. law is shameful, embarrassing and cowardly. The Israeli military unit that the State Department planned to sanction beat an elderly American citizen to a pulp, tied him up, and left him to die. Sanctioning this unit is the least the Biden administration should have done, and suspending military aid altogether is what the administration should do now.”
He noted that earlier this week, CAIR said that President Biden and many members of Congress have “passed the moral point of no return” by unconditionally providing $17 billion to the Israeli government despite its relentless campaign of genocide that has killed over 34,000 Palestinians.
