Posted on 12/08/23
| News Source: Times of Israel
The White House says it condemns “in the strongest terms” the “shocking, antisemitic” remarks that surfaced earlier today by the founder and executive director of the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) following Hamas’s shock October 7 attacks on Israel.
Nihad Awad said in a speech during the American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) convention in Chicago last month that he was “happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land, and walk free into their land, which they were not allowed to walk in,” referring to the unprecedented onslaught two months ago when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists burst through the enclave’s border with Israel and massacred 1,200 people and took some 240 hostage.
“And yes, the people of Gaza have the right to self-defense, have the right to defend themselves, and yes, Israel, as an occupying power, does not have that right to self-defense.
White House spokesperson Andrew Bates says “The horrific, brutal terrorist attacks committed by Hamas on October 7th were, as President Biden said, ‘abhorrent’ and represent ‘unadulterated evil.’ October 7th was the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.”
“The atrocities of that day shock the conscience, which is why we can never forget the pain Hamas has caused for so many innocent people. There are families who are in agony mourning loves ones, and there are also families in agony as they do everything in their power to free loved ones being held hostage,” Bates says in a statement.
“Every leader has a responsibility to call out antisemitism wherever it rears its ugly head,’ he says.