—FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—
NEW YORK, NY (May 14, 2018) – The Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) condemns the Israeli military aggression against unarmed civilian protesters in Gaza, killing 55 including 8 children and injuring over 1000.
No amount of reasoning can term the killing other than a massacre. ICNA calls upon the international community to condemn this policy of suppression and tyranny of the Israeli government.
The United Nation’s Human Rights Commission tweeted “Shocking killing of dozens, injury of hundreds by Israeli live fire in #Gaza must stop now. The right to life must be respected. Those responsible for outrageous human rights violations must be held to account.”
The protesters were part of a demonstration demanding their rights accorded under U.N. resolutions and international treaties which recognizes Jerusalem as an occupied territory and calls on Israel to end its illegal occupation.
Turkey’s President Erdogan spoke of “another dark spot, another crime added to Israel’s wall of shame.” He added, “The so-called civilized world must be ashamed of its silence in the face of this systematic barbarism”.
Qatar decried “the brutal massacre and systematic killing committed by the Israeli occupation forces.”
ICNA calls upon the Muslim governments across the world to exert pressure on Israel and US and refrain from any move to undermine international law including the unilateral designation of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
France called on the Israeli authorities to “exercise discernment and restraint in the use of force that must be strictly proportionate”.
ICNA once again calls on the White House to reverse its decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem, as it damages American credibility of an honest and unbiased mediator in the Middle East. It now makes it impossible for the US to be a true peace broker and undermines its own national interests.
