(HOUSTON, TEXAS, 10/12/2023) – The Houston chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Houston), a chapter of the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned Texan elected officials’ ignoring of the Palestinian peoples’ suffering at the hands of Israel’s latest onslaught Gaza civilians and called on them to meet with Palestinian human rights advocates. 

CAIR-Houston has also written to local and state officials with suggested language, additional background information, and resources for their use. 

SEE: CAIR-Houston to Hold Press Conference Featuring Palestinian Houstonians to Speak of Ongoing Violence in Gaza  

In a statement, CAIR-Houston Director William White said: 

We continue to condemn Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. Israel has kept Gaza in an open-air prison for sixteen years through its illegal ongoing land, air, and sea blockade. We stand with Gazans and Palestinians as they demand dignity. Targeting civilians, whether Israeli or Palestinian, is wrong. The violence must end, and the only way to permanently end the cycle of violence is to end the occupation. 

We also condemn Texas’s many elected officials’ statements in support of Israeli apartheid and calls further to harm the people of Gaza and their homes. To paint an image of one-sidedness is both inaccurate and unethical and an insult to the Palestinian American families and communities here in Texas that have long held up Houston, Dallas, and other areas throughout the state through community service, business, medicine, legal work, education, and politics. 

We call on those who support human rights and liberty to join local actions here in Houston and surrounding areas supporting the Palestinian call for freedom. 

BACKGROUNDER: 

Israeli forces killed at least 1400 people, including 400 children, and wounded 6,000 others in the Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours, and Gaza is now in complete blackout without any fuel for energy.  

The growing civilian casualty toll comes in response to Hamas’s latest offensive, which killed at least 250 Israelis and wounded hundreds more. The assault on Israel responded to the Israeli Defense Forces’ most recent assault on al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem and its ongoing siege and blockade of Gaza. 

The United Nations has called Israel’s aggressions in Gaza and the Occupied West Bank “illegal under international law” and a “substantial obstacle to peace.” 

SEE: Security Council Expresses ‘Concern,’ ‘Dismay’ over Israeli Settlement Expansions, Adopting First Presidential Statement on Question of Palestine in Years 

Many Texas state and local elected officials issued statements in support of Israel’s latest aggressions in Gaza.  

In a statement, the National Lawyers Guild emphasized the legitimacy of the right of the Palestinian people to resist illegal military occupation, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing and urges the United States to stop enabling and arming Israel’s perpetration of its atrocities. 

SEE: NLG International emphasizes Palestinian right to resist, stands in solidarity with Palestine 

CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims. 

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CONTACT: CAIR-Houston Director William White, w-white@cair.com, 713-254-2016