The White Home disavowed an American-Islamic advocacy group on Thursday after the group’s director declared that he “was happy to see” Palestinians get away of Gaza on Oct. 7, the day of the Hamas terrorist assault on Israel that killed an estimated 1,200 folks and led to the seizure of 240 others as hostages.
A spokesman for President Biden condemned the remarks by Nihad Awad, the nationwide govt director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, who declared in a speech that Palestinians in Gaza “have the right to self-defense” however that Israel “as an occupying power” doesn’t. Mr. Awad stated his feedback have been being misconstrued.
“We condemn these shocking, antisemitic statements in the strongest terms,” stated Mr. Biden’s spokesman, Andrew Bates. “The horrific, brutal terrorist attacks committed by Hamas on Oct. 7 were, as President Biden said, ‘abhorrent’ and represent ‘unadulterated evil.’” Mr. Bates added that the atrocities of that day “shock the conscience” and stated that “every leader has a responsibility to call out antisemitism wherever it rears its ugly head.”
The White Home didn’t have an in depth relationship with the council, which matches by the acronym CAIR, however included an officer of the group in a “listening session on Islamophobia” in Could with Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris. Later that month, the White Home listed the council amongst a number of impartial organizations in a document discussing commitments to fight antisemitism. The White Home eliminated CAIR’s identify from that on-line doc on Thursday after Mr. Awad’s remarks to clarify it was distancing itself from the group.
CAIR has lengthy been a controversial participant in Washington, presenting itself as a champion of civil rights for Muslims in an period of Islamophobia but repeatedly pilloried by many, particularly on the political proper, as an apologist for extremism. Mr. Awad, a Palestinian American, and his group have been accused of past sympathy for Hamas, which is designated a terrorist group by the US and European Union. Whereas Mr. Awad stated in 1994 that he was “in support of the Hamas movement,” he stated in 2006 that “I don’t support Hamas today,” and CAIR has denied any ties to the group or assist for terrorism.
The remarks by Mr. Awad have been made two weeks in the past at a gathering of American Muslims for Palestine however got extensive circulation on Thursday morning by the Middle East Media Research Institute, or Memri, a Washington-based group based by a veteran Israeli intelligence officer that displays and interprets Arabic and different media. In a video posted online, Mr. Awad was seen seemingly celebrating and justifying the Oct. 7 assault.
“The people of Gaza only decided to break the siege, the walls of the concentration camp, on Oct. 7,” he stated. “And yes, I was happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land and walk free into their land that they were not allowed to walk in.
“And yes,” he continued, “the people of Gaza have the right to self-defense, have the right to defend themselves, and yes, Israel as an occupying power does not have that right to self-defense.”
Mr. Awad stated in a statement on Thursday that his feedback have been taken “out of context” by “an anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian hate website” to distort his which means. In one other a part of his speech that was not included within the video, he stated he denounced hate in opposition to Jews and known as antisemitism “a real evil” that “has to be rejected and combated by all people.”
He stated his feedback within the speech about Oct. 7 referred to Palestinians who crossed from Gaza into Israel after the border was breached that day however didn’t themselves interact in violence.
“The average Palestinians who briefly walked out of Gaza and set foot on their ethnically cleansed land in a symbolic act of defiance against the blockade and stopped there without engaging in violence were within their rights under international law,” Mr. Awad stated within the assertion. “The extremists who went on to attack civilians in southern Israel were not. Targeting civilians is unacceptable, no matter whether they are Israeli or Palestinian or any other nationality.”
