Photo Credit: Rahul Lal | CalMatters
(SACRAMENTO, CA, 1/8/2024) – The California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CA) today expressed deep concern and opposition to recent initiatives taken by California State legislators which comment on the ongoing Middle East crisis while deliberately ignoring the suffering of the Palestinian people under the Israeli government’s indiscriminate attacks on Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants—a majority of them being minors.
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On Wednesday, Jan. 3, the first day of the 2024 legislative session, Assemblymember James Gallagher introduced ACR 119. The resolution includes an outline of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the ensuing hostage crisis.
On the same day, the Jewish Legislative Caucus released a letter to legislators regarding the Oct. 7 attacks, rising antisemitism, and a proposed 2024 legislative package.
While both ACR 119 and the letter rightfully condemn terrorism and antisemitism and call for the return of civilian hostages, both notably omit how the Israeli government’s ongoing violence and what President Biden described as the “indiscriminate bombing” in Gaza have killed over 22,000 Palestinian civilians, including over 10,000 children, displaced 1.9 million people, destroyed critical infrastructure like hospitals, schools, bakeries, mosques, and churches, and caused a life-threatening humanitarian crisis. Human rights organizations and advocates from all over the world have stated that Israel’s cutting off of food, water, fuel, and healthcare amounts to war crimes.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has lamented that ”Gaza is becoming a graveyard for children. Hundreds of girls and boys are reportedly being killed or injured every day.”
In a new report, the Israeli Human Rights Organization B’Tselem stated, “The hunger in Gaza is not a byproduct of the war but a direct result of Israel’s declared policy.” Since Oct. 7, Israeli government officials and leaders have openly called for the flattening of Gaza and the mass murder of its residents, described as “human animals” or “not civilians” by various Israeli government officials and leaders.
Additionally, both ACR 119 and the letter contain claims that have been proven inaccurate and have been used to dehumanize Palestinians and justify the unfolding genocide and war crimes against them. The letter supports the false claim that intifada—the Arabic word for uprising—means ”killing Jews,” falsely states that the BDS movement’s goal is to “destroy Israel itself,” and absolved the Israeli government of any accountability for its indiscriminate bombing of Gaza, and proclaims that all of the activists who use the common Palestine slogan “from the river to the sea” intend to express “support the annihilation of the world’s only Jewish nation.”
CAIR-CA asserts that selective actions or statements about the Mideast crisis made by a legislative body of representatives regarding the suffering of only Israeli civilians that ignore or even justify the suffering of Palestinians who have experienced an egregious humanitarian crisis, dispossession, occupation, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and daily abuse and murder, not only over the last three months but over the past 75 years, are irresponsible, morally wrong, exacerbate Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian hate impacting the one million Muslims and Arabs in California, and is in direct conflict with lawmakers’ commitments to irrevocably condemn all forms of violence.
Furthermore, we are alarmed that the lawmaker’s letter seems to encourage and commit to the stifling of academic speech and political activism, which critiques current and past Israeli policies and discusses the violence Palestinians experienced during the forming of the Israeli state, which resulted in the displacement and dispossession of nearly 750,000 indigenous Palestinians, the deliberate demolition of nearly 500 Palestinian villages and towns by Israel, and has since led to apartheid and discriminatory policies and years of human rights abuses against Palestinians.
In a statement, CAIR-CA CEO Hussam Ayloush said:
“We are disappointed and disturbed to see our elected officials engage in legislative acts which selectively condemn only attacks on Israeli civilians while ignoring or even justifying the ongoing attacks on Palestinian civilians who are experiencing a man-made humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
“Every life should matter, not just Israeli ones. By asking the legislature to support initiatives that only highlight the devastation of Oct. 7 and ignore the 75 years of Palestinian dispossession and suffering, as well as the ongoing mass devastation in Gaza, lawmakers are asking their colleagues to politicize human rights and human lives, alienate their constituents and California’s AMEMSA communities, and fuel a growing rise of Islamophobic sentiment within California.
“Our collective pursuit of justice should encompass a fair, compassionate, and balanced approach that acknowledges and supports all victims of violence, including both Israeli and Palestinian civilians. This resolution and the letter by the Jewish Legislative Caucus had the opportunity to transcend divisive rhetoric and genuinely uplift the affected communities in their quest for dignity, security, and a safe future. Instead, it has deepened the divide and intentionally turned a deaf ear to the voices of our communities.”
SEE:
- CAIR-LA Demands Santa Ana Mayor Issue Apology for Biased Behavior During City Council Meeting
- CAIR Received ‘Staggering’ 2,171 Complaints Over Past Two Months as Islamophobia, Anti-Palestinian Hate ‘Spin Out of Control’
CAIR-CA has previously called out local, state, and federal lawmakers for making similar biased, one-sided statements that further push anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim rhetoric. Hate incidents targeting the Muslim and Arab communities have been on the rise across the country since Oct. 7. In its most recent report, CAIR National released data showing it received a total of 2,171 reports of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian bias in the two months following Oct. 7—a staggering 172% increase. These reports include incidents of harassment, workplace discrimination, and bullying of K-12 students from peers, teachers, and administrators.
CAIR condemns all forms of Islamophobia, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian hate, and antisemitism in the strongest possible terms and calls on our national leaders to take immediate action to stifle these increased attacks on American citizens.
CAIR-CA is a chapter of CAIR, America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
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CONTACT: CAIR-LA Digital Communications Manager Enjy El-Kadi, eelkadi@cair.com, (714) 851-4851 ; CAIR-CA Policy Manager Nazeehah Khan, nkhan@cair.com, (916) 596-9158 ext 110