CAIR Urges U.S. Lawmakers to Denounce Netanyahu’s Gaza Plan and Halt Arms to Israel
As famine deepens and airstrikes kill 115 Palestinians in one day, CAIR warns of genocide and calls for immediate congressional action.
Watan-Human rights organizations have called on U.S. lawmakers to take a firm stance against the far-right government of Benjamin Netanyahu, which has continued its war and blockade on the Gaza Strip for 588 consecutive days. On Friday alone, at least 115 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes amid a worsening famine.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim civil rights organization in the U.S., sent an open letter signed by its Director of Government Affairs, Robert S. McCaw, urging all members of Congress to “publicly oppose the Israeli government’s plan to occupy and flatten Gaza, and to push the remaining Palestinians into camps as a prelude to expelling them from their land.”
“Chariots of Gideon”: Israel’s Push for Full Gaza Reoccupation Sparks Genocide Warnings
Recent days have seen a bloody escalation in an Israeli military operation called “Chariots of Gideon”, aimed at full and permanent control of Gaza, with Israeli officials calling for the re-colonization of the Strip.
According to local and international reports, Israeli airstrikes since early Friday have killed at least 115 Palestinians, including children, with the attacks focusing on Beit Lahia and Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.
McCaw wrote: “Netanyahu has explicitly declared that Israel will not stop the war even if all hostages are released. He has vowed to fully reoccupy Gaza and expel Palestinians from it.” He pointed out that Netanyahu’s government has officially approved a full-scale ground invasion and permanent occupation of the Strip.
“It’s time to act—now or never,” the letter stated. “We urge you to denounce Netanyahu’s plan, demand an immediate end to this genocidal war, and pledge to halt arms sales to Israel unless its human rights violations stop. As long as Israel continues to receive unconditional U.S. military, financial, and diplomatic support, Netanyahu has no incentive to back down.”
Human rights groups accuse Netanyahu of endangering the lives of 23 hostages still held by Hamas in order to prolong the war and avoid facing corruption charges.
This scene in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza right now is unbearable. Horrifying reports of dozens buried under the rubble—children, women, entire families.
It’s a graveyard in real time. Lost for words.
pic.twitter.com/xA4FkQjxeC— Ihab Hassan (@IhabHassane) May 16, 2025
CAIR: Speak Loudly—Stop the Madness Before No One’s Left to Save
A CAIR statement read: “Netanyahu has made his intentions clear—to destroy and ethnically cleanse Gaza, even if it means starving or killing the hostages through indiscriminate bombing.”
It added: “Children are being killed every hour with American weapons. Babies are dying of hunger while food rots at Gaza’s gates. Parents die with them. And the hostages face the same fate.”
“Please,” the statement concluded, “raise your voices loudly and demand an end to this madness before there is no one left to save.”
In a related development, Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s, was arrested this week after disrupting a Senate hearing and shouting: “Congress is killing poor children in Gaza by buying bombs and paying for them by cutting aid to kids in America,” according to Common Dreams.
Cohen added: “Congress must end the blockade and let food into Gaza. Hungry children must be fed!”
According to a Monday report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), 244,000 people in Gaza have reached Phase 5—the most severe level of famine—characterized by mass deaths, acute malnutrition, and total lack of aid.
According to the UN and human rights organizations, dozens of Palestinians, including at least 57 children and 14 elderly people, have died from starvation and lack of medical care across the Strip.
Gaza, under siege since 2007, now faces catastrophic conditions after Israel imposed a total blockade following Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack, which was intensified further on March 2, 2024, by blocking the entry of food, medicine, fuel, and cooking gas.
Israeli violations—including siege, starvation, mass killings, and the forced displacement of over two million Palestinians—are under investigation by the International Court of Justice in a genocide case led by South Africa. Both Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant are being pursued by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide and forced starvation.
In a political development, CAIR welcomed a statement signed by 27 Democratic senators and two independents calling on President Donald Trump’s administration to use all diplomatic means to end the Israeli assault, secure the release of hostages, and lift the siege to allow urgent humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Despite some Israeli officials and supporters denying the existence of famine, both Trump and his ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, admitted that Palestinians are starving. Trump said during his visit to Abu Dhabi at the end of his Middle East tour: “Many people in Gaza are hungry,” adding, “We will work to address this.”
Huckabee revealed that a joint U.S.-Israeli plan to deliver limited aid would only reach about 60% of Gaza’s population—an initiative rejected by the UN and aid organizations operating in the Strip.
