(ATLANTA, GA, 7/23/2024) – The Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and its Georgia chapter (CAIR-Georgia) today joined the Atlanta Multifaith Coalition for Palestine (AMCP), a large group of multiethnic, multiracial, multigenerational coalition of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim leaders in holding a press conference to denounce Netanyahu’s visit to U.S. Congress and called on Georgia elected officials to boycott his speech.
LIVESTREAM: https://www.facebook.com/reel/459087930243374
The boycott was called in response to Israel’s ongoing military assault on Gaza, resulting in an estimated 186,000 Palestinians killed and more than 20,000 children unaccounted for. In recent weeks, Israel has escalated an already bloody assault on civilians to target designated safe zones and has greenlighted settler violence in the West Bank. Last week, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) deemed Israel’s occupation of Palestine violates fundamental principles of international law and renders Israel’s presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory unlawful.
Read the ICJ advisory opinion: 186-20240719-sum-01-00-en.pdf (icj-cij.org)
Speakers at the press conference included a diverse mix of multiracial prominent faith and community leaders in Georgia, reflecting the views of hundreds of thousands of congregants across the state.
Reverend Tiffany Macky of the AME church stated, “We want Netanyahu to be held responsible for the war crimes we are funding and enabling.”
Ilise Cohen, from Jewish Voice for Peace (Atlanta) said, “Considering Netanyahu’s track record in actively doing everything he can to destroy the Palestinian people, whilst also ignoring his own citizens crying out to bring their loves one’s home and calling for an end to the Israeli war- how dare they invite Netanyahu to the U.S.”
George Makhlouf, a Christian Palestinian American remarked, “Those senators who invited Netanyahu are as criminal as Netanyahu himself.”
Deputy Director for the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR) Edward Mitchell stated, “This man is a war criminal, this man is a racist, and this man by the way hates America…The only speech Benjamin Netanyahu should be giving is his testimony at the Hague”
Reverend Fahed AbuAkel, a Palestinian-American and retired Presbyterian Church leader stated, “My message to the two (Georgia) senators is, you need to stand tall and say to Prime Minister Netanyahu, we don’t accept your lies and we don’t accept your bluffing, you can bluff the U.S Congress, but you can’t bluff to the American people. We do not accept what Israel is doing today. We do not accept giving our tax dollars to kill the Palestinians.”
Reverend Keyanna Moore Jones, co-pastor of Park Avenue Baptist church, stated, “He (Netanyahu) is using starvation as a method and a tool of war, he is using the violent assault of women and children as a tool of war. This person has been found guilty of multiple war crimes.”
Azka Mahmood, Executive Director of the Georgia chapter of the Council of American Relations stated, “War criminals are not welcome in our halls of power, war criminals do not deserve our platforms and war criminals should not be allowed to desecrate our halls of Congress.”
CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, [email protected]; Azka Mahmood, CAIR-Georgia Executive Director, [email protected], 678-653-5822, AMCP Communications, [email protected], Jewish Voice for Peace (Atlanta), [email protected], 470-226-3176