By Sadiq Abdulfatah

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which stands as the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, has said that the “extremely unpleasant” torture of a one-year-old Palestinian child in Gaza by Israeli forces must lead to congressional action to block U.S. tax dollars from enabling crimes against humanity.

Following reports, Israeli soldiers, in order to pressure the toddler’s father to confess to an interrogation, the soldiers tortured the child by burning one of his legs with cigarettes and inserting a nail into his leg. A video aired by Palestine TV shows injuries to the child after he was detained by Israeli forces near the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza.

According to a statement by CAIR, “Israel’s use of a nail and cigarette burns to torture a one-year-old child and force a confession from his father is a revolting moral outrage that demands immediate action from Congress. No child, anywhere in the world, should be subjected to such cruelty, especially with American taxpayer dollars. These actions constitute grave violations of international law and basic human decency.

“Our nation must end its complicity in these crimes. Congress has a responsibility to ensure that American taxpayer dollars are not used to support the torture or slaughter of more children. Every lawmaker with a conscience must vote to end military aid for the out-of-control Israeli regime.”

CAIR welcomed a decision by the German government not to testify on Israel’s behalf in the genocide case against them at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and recently called on members of Congress to condemn Israel’s ethnic cleansing in Lebanon that has displaced around one in five people in the country.

CAIR added that its mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.

Source: CAIR Press Releases