(WASHINGTON, D.C.; 05/27/2021) – The US Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO), the largest coalition of major national, regional, and local Muslim organizations and Islamic institutions, formally called on U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, prior to his current diplomatic visit to Palestine and the Middle East, to “fulfill the moral duty of this nation” and the promises of President Joseph Biden, to “center American foreign policy,” particularly regarding Jerusalem and the Palestinians, on human rights.
The May 24 letter insisted the U.S. “WITHHOLD providing any material or diplomatic assistance – militarily, politically, or otherwise” – and that it applies American and international law, and comply with the “rising moral outrage of the American people” against the clear Israeli apartheid regime over the Palestinians from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.”
“Our letter outlined for Secretary Blinken 11 clear points of oppression that he should insist on his trip that the Israeli authorities must stop, in an internationally verified way, before any U.S. diplomatic or military cooperation could resume,” said USCMO Secretary General Oussama Jammal.
“We’re not naïve about this, but it has become crucial for this administration to understand that the growing American Muslim community is, in fact, well aware, crucially concerned, and in the forefront of the swelling international momentum to end completely this brutal, generational Israeli ethnic cleansing and persecution of the Palestinians and its desecrations and repressive schemes against Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa.”
The letter also called for the cessation of the illegal Gaza siege, the West Bank occupation, disbanding of illegal settlements, and Sheikh Jarrah expulsions. (Read the full letter here.)
“This won’t be easy,” said Jammal, “but neither was ending South Africa’s apartheid. We can all see the clear writing on the wall.
“Just yesterday, Ireland’s government has supported a parliamentary motion condemning Israel’s “de facto annexation” of Palestinian land. This is the first use of that important specific wording by an EU government when it comes to the Israelis.”
In addition, the UN’s human rights council will vote on a resolution for an independent commission of inquiry into Israeli “violations” in Jerusalem, pre-48 lands, and the occupied West Bank since April.
“The shift is long in coming but tectonic,” said Jammal. “U.S. leadership needs to understand this rising global tide.
“And we need to realize that the American Muslim community is now at its forefront as an increasingly trusted educator of this global human movement.
“This geopolitical human rights change is now, God willing, inevitable.”
# # #
