Since October last year, the political and humanitarian crisis in the Mideast has changed the lives of many Americans and others around the world. Some had to sever a close relationship due to political disagreement; some lost their jobs after advocating for a humanitarian ceasefire; and some lost their whole families, their homes, their cities, their schools, and some body limbs; but no loss was bigger than the loss of some people’s humanity.
CAIR-Texas team was extremely disappointed to read Governor Abbott's statement regarding Oct. 7th anniversary that showed selective empathy and failed to acknowledge the Palestinians’ suffering.
Governor Abbott, you failed to visit, to see, to meet, to check on, to count, and to name.
You visited Israel but you failed to visit Gaza, a small city that was a home for 2.3M Palestinians before the Israeli massive retaliation that killed 41,500, 56% of them are women and children; wounded 95,000; displaced 1.9M; and destroyed about 80,000 homes over the past year as published on Reuters.
You saw the carnage caused by Hamas, but you failed to see the unprecedented carnage against the children in Gaza reported by the American Jewish surgeon, Mark Perlmutter.
You met with the displaced Israelis, but you failed to meet with the 1.9M Palestinians who were forced to be internally displaced in Gaza and were still bombed in sheltering UN schools, hospitals, and refugee camps.
You checked on victims in a Tel Aviv hospital, but you failed to check on the Palestinian children who were targeted by the Israeli snipers with deadly shots in the head and the chest. And you failed to check on the 17,000 Palestinian minors who are roaming Gaza’s streets, separated from their families, according to the UNICEF report released last February.
You counted and named the 7 American hostages taken by Hamas, but you failed to count and name the 7 world central kitchen workers who were killed by the Israeli air strike in Gaza while being on a humanitarian mission. And you failed to count and name the 128 Palestinian journalists and media workers that were deliberately targeted and killed by the Israeli army since last October , in a mortality rate that is higher than any other occupational group according to the International federation of Journalists.
Governor Abbott, your inability to see or acknowledge the Palestinians’ suffering is deeply rooted in racism and political bias. This dehumanization rhetoric you and other politicians are using is what paved the way to the current genocide against Palestinian civilians. And it is the same dehumanization rhetoric that paved the way to the European Jews Holocaust.
Governor Abbott, you and all politicians who failed to acknowledge the suffering of the Palestinians are complicit. You are complicit in the death of the 26 years-old American citizen, Eygi, who was shot in the head by the Israeli’s army while peacefully protesting the settlement expansion in the West Bank last month. You are complicit in the man-made famine endangering Palestinian children. You are complicit in the continuing rise in hate crimes and discrimination against American Muslims since last October. You are complicit in the most destructive bombing campaign in this century. You are complicit in the Israel army’s international law violations. And you are complicit in the full-scale regional war ignited by the far-right Israeli government you fully and proudly support.
We mourn the loss of all civilians’ lives, and we wonder if a year of genocide is not enough to force a ceasefire resolution and address the root cause of violence. It is time for our politicians and elected officials to listen to their constituents and stop sending more weapons to the Israeli government as suppressing free speech will only make it louder.