CAIR Applauds Sen. Van Hollen’s Amendment Barring Use of Israel Aid for Illegal Annexation

CAIR Action Alert: Urge Your State’s Senators to Oppose Israel’s Planned Illegal Annexation

The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today applauded U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) – and the 12 other leading Democratic Senators that joined him – for introducing an amendment that would prohibit the use of any U.S. military funds to be used by the government of Israel in the annexation of Palestinian territories.

The amendment marks an “unprecedented milestone” in the U.S. Senate being the first of its kind to bar the use of U.S. taxpayer funds for Israel’s planned illegal annexation of Palestinian land.  

TAKE ACTION: Urge Your State’s Senators to Oppose Illegal Annexation

https://www.votervoice.net/CAIR/campaigns/75735/respond

The measure was introduced on Monday as an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and is being co-sponsored by U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen, Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).

“CAIR applauds U.S. Senator Van Hollen and the twelve Democratic senators who joined him in this unprecedented milestone in the Senate by standing up against the Israeli government’s illegal annexation plan,” said CAIR Director of Government Affairs Department Robert S. McCaw. “We urge the rest of the Senate to co-sponsor and adopt this measure in order to ensure that no U.S. tax dollars go toward the illegal confiscation of Palestinian lands.”

McCaw noted that earlier today CAIR’s Maryland Outreach Office also applauded Sen. Van Hollen for introducing the amendment and called on Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), who serves as the senior ranking senator for the state of Maryland to join his Democratic colleagues in supporting the amendment.

BACKGROUND:

According to reports, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu planned to begin further illegal annexation of the West Bank on July 1, 2020, but has now delayed the process due to international controversy surrounding the intended process and perceived outcome.

Last week, CAIR called on all Americans to urge their members of Congress to take action against the Israeli government’s illegal plan to unilaterally annex more parts of the occupied West Bank and further entrench segregationist rule over Palestinians. 

In a letter, CAIR also called on Congress to cut or condition the $4 billion in U.S. taxpayer-funded giveaway to the Israeli government so that our country is not responsible for supporting the planned annexation and enabling a system of apartheid.

According United Nation’s Secretary General António Guterres, Israel’s planned annexation is illegal under international law and would most likely harm any efforts of a lasting peace for the region.

In January, CAIR condemned President Trump’s Mideast peace plan as a “road map to perpetual Apartheid” and an end to the national aspirations of the Palestinian people.

In 2018, CAIR called on Congress, the Trump administration and the international community to take concrete steps against the adoption of an “apartheid” law by Israel stating that the Jewish people “have an exclusive right to national self-determination,” with no mention of equality or minority rights.

In CAIR’s 25-year history, it has worked to empower American Muslim to defend the civil, human and religious rights of oppressed Muslim communities overseas.

CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.

La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.

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rayhanania

Op-Ed writer, author, radio host, podcaster at The Arab Daily News

RAY HANANIA — Op-Ed writer, author, radio host, podcaster

Ray Hanania is an award winning political and humor columnist who analyzes American and Middle East politics, and life in general. He is an author of several books.

Hanania covered Chicago Politics and Chicago City Hall from 1976 through 1992 at the Daily Southtown and the Chicago Sun-Times. He began writing in 1975 publishing The Middle Eastern Voice newspaper in Chicago (1975-1977). He later published “The National Arab American Times” newspaper (2004-2007).

Hanania writes weekly columns on Middle East and American Arab issues as Special US Correspondent for the Arab News ArabNews.com, at TheArabDailyNews.com, and at SuburbanChicagoland.com. He has published weekly columns in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, YNetNews.com, Newsday, the Orlando Sentinel, Houston Chronical, and Arlington Heights Daily Herald.

Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media. In 2009, Hanania received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the recipient of the MT Mehdi Courage in Journalism Award. He was honored for his writing skills with two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild. In 1990, Hanania was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times editors for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.

His writings have also been honored by two national Awards from ADC for his writing, and from the National Arab American Journalists Association.

Hanania is the US Special Correspondent for the Arab News Newspaper, covering Middle East and Arab American issues. He writes for the Southwest News newspaper group writing on mainstream American issues.

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