Muslim civil rights group calls on CWRU president to ‘apologize, retract his false statement, and meet with students’
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/10/2022) – The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and its Cleveland chapter (CAIR-Cleveland) today called Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) President Eric Kaler’s response to a student government resolution seeking divestment from companies that provide support to the Israeli government’s system of apartheid “dishonest, dangerous and defamatory.”
Editorial: President Kaler has created far more division than USG ever could
CAIR, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, also called on President Kaler to “immediately apologize, retract his false statement, and meet with students.”
Case Western Reserve University’s Undergraduate Student Government (USG) passed a resolution demanding the university divest from companies that “directly provide weaponry, security systems, prisons, or military support for the illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories” within two years.
USG voted 35-17-7 last night to approve Resolution 31-15, which calls on the university to “fully divest its assets from Israeli apartheid.”
READ THE RESOLUTION.
SEE: USG’s “Students for Justice in Palestine” bill garners controversy
Following its passage, CWRU President Eric Kaler issued a message to students and staff condemning the resolution. In his message, Kaler falsely claimed the foundation of the resolution was “profoundly antisemitic.”
In response to President Kaler’s statement, CAIR-Ohio, Cleveland Chapter Executive Director Julia Shearson said:
“In his message to students and faculty on the passage of the resolution, President Kaler conflates the legitimate grievances of the Palestinian people with antisemitism and hate. In doing so, he commits the logical fallacy of attacking a straw man. Moreover, he dismissively erases the perspective of the Palestinian students on campus, many of whose immediate families are directly impacted by the Israeli occupation.
“If President Kaler wants to promote the university’s stated core values, he should stop denigrating Palestinian students and instead reach out to them and their allies on campus and listen with an unbiased ear to their perspectives.”
In a statement, CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said:
“We strongly condemn President Kaler’s dishonest, dangerous and defamatory attack on students at Case Western Reserve University.
“By slandering students for expressing support for Palestinian human rights and calling on the university to divest from companies that provide military support for the Israeli apartheid government’s human rights abuses, President Kaler has endangered the very students he is supposed to protect.
“Students at Case Western Reserve University have every right to state widely-known facts that have been attested to by numerous human rights organizations and the United Nations.
“President Kaler must immediately apologize, retract his false statement, and meet with students he targeted to begin repairing the damage he caused.”
He noted that last month, CAIR welcomed an investigation by a UN commission of inquiry into the Israeli government’s system of apartheid against Palestinians.
Mitchell cited a recent open letter by five former European ministers that labeled Israel’s policies against Palestinians as “the crime of apartheid.”
He added that Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the Presbyterian Church USA have recently labeled Israel an apartheid state.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing also recognized that Israel is committing apartheid against Palestinians.
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La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Coordinator Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com