Washington
CNN
—
The White House has strongly condemned recent comments from the leader of a prominent American-Islamic group, who said he was “happy to see” Gazans invade Israel on October 7.
These comments came from the director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Nihad Awad, during a conference two weeks ago, when – according to a video posted on X, by the Middle East Media Research Institute, based in Washington – he said: “I was happy to see the people breaking the siege, throwing off the chains of their own lands and freely entering their lands, which they were not allowed to enter. »
“We condemn these shocking anti-Semitic statements in the strongest possible terms,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement shared with CNN.
Bates echoed President Joe Biden in calling the October 7 attacks “heinous” and “pure evil,” noting that October 7 “was the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust “.
“The atrocities of this day shock the conscience, which is why we can never forget the pain Hamas has caused so many innocent people,” Bates said in a statement responding to Awad’s remarks.
In a statement released Thursday, Awad said he condemned violence against all civilians and all forms of sectarianism and claimed his comments were taken out of context.
“What I actually said when discussing international law: Ukrainians, Palestinians and other occupied peoples have the right to defend themselves and escape occupation by just and legal means, but targeting civilians does not “It’s never an acceptable way to do it, which is why I once again condemned the violence against Israeli civilians on October 7,” he said.
The White House has spoken out forcefully against anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in the months since the October 7 attacks.
“We cannot stand idly by when this happens. We must, unequivocally, denounce anti-Semitism. We must also, unequivocally, denounce Islamophobia,” Biden said in the Oval Office. speech at the end of October.
THE Anti-Defamation League, which tracks anti-Semitic incidents, reported a “significant increase” in such incidents in the weeks following October 7, according to preliminary data. And CAIR reported a “a marked increase in national reporting” of incidents of anti-Muslim bias in America.
The title of this story has been updated.
