A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today called on the international community to intervene after at least 12 Lebanese civilians, including women and children, were killed in an Israeli attack on a convoy fleeing threats to destroy their village.
The fleeing civilians had reportedly sought protection from UN peacekeeping forces in the area, but had been turned away, according to American Muslims.
In a statement, the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said:
“The international community must respond to this latest massacre of Lebanese men, women and children by taking concrete action to protect that nation’s civilian population and infrastructure from attack.
“Israel has stated clearly, and demonstrated through violent actions, that it is attacking civilian targets in Lebanon in order to achieve a political goal. This is the very definition of state terrorism.
“Our nation cannot maintain credibility in condemning acts of terror carried out by individuals and groups, while offering diplomatic cover and material support to a state that is engaged in a brutal campaign against an entire civilian population,” said CAIR’s Ibrahim Hooper.
Meanwhile, CAIR, considered the largest group in the U.S. representing Muslims, has not issued a press release or made statements condemning Hezbollah or Hamas for their acts of terrorism that triggered Israel’s military response. They did, however, schedule press conferences in cities throughout the country in order to criticize President Bush for not pressuring Israel to cease fire.
“We are concerned that our government’s refusal to even request a cease-fire to end humanitarian suffering in Lebanon and Gaza creates the perception that Muslim and Arab lives are somehow less valuable than Israeli lives,” said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad.
“Targeting civilians to achieve a political goal is terrorism, whether the target is a pizza parlor in Tel Aviv or an apartment building in Beirut,” he said.
As with CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper, Mr. Awad made no mention of the Hezbollah rocket attacks on Israeli cities or Hamas’ continued terrorist activities in Gaza.
During one press conference, Hooper took a cheap shot at the American president echoing the nonsense promulgated by Democrat Party leaders — such as Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) — about Bush’s slow response and comparing the evacuation of American citizens out of Lebanon to Hurricane Katrina.
God forbid these voices of appeasement didn’t make a extremely serious crisis a political talking point to use for the purpose of grabbing power for themselves and their party.
Another organization, the Arab American Institute also released a press release, this one condemning Israel’s attack against Hamas fighters in Gaza. The AAI condemned Israel