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Last Updated on October 3, 2024.

WASHINGTON — Win Without War Executive Director Sara Haghdoosti released the following statement regarding the line of questioning Senator Kennedy directed at Maya Berry, Executive Director of the Arab American Institute:

“There is simply no excuse for the unacceptable questions and accusations that Senator John Kennedy posed to Maya Berry, the Executive Director of the Arab American Institute, during a recent Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on hate crimes in the United States.

“Suggesting that Maya Berry has allegiances purely because of her identity is racist and dangerous. Conflating the actions of specific, limited organizations and entities with whole religions and communities has long been used to dehumanize people, spur violence, and keep us divided. There is no excuse for it.

“It is particularly appalling that this racist questioning happened during a hearing meant to address rising hate crimes related to anti-Muslim hate and antisemitism. Maya Berry in her opening testimony raised particular instances of how people in the Palestinian community have experienced hate crimes, and noted an alarming increase in hate crimes directed towards a variety of marginalized groups. However, her examples of hate crimes directed towards Palestinians in the United States were largely erased or ignored by the committee. This was particularly galling given that the mother of Wadee Alfayoum, a six-year-old Palestinian child in Chicago murdered in a hate crime, was in the audience.

“As Maya Berry said in her opening statement: “The safety of us all is linked, because we are all on a very basic level in a community with one another. Hate crimes impact our entire country.

“We denounce Senator Kennedy’s racism, and urge members of Congress and the White House to join us. A failure to do so suggests that Arab Americans, along with and Palestinian Americans and others who are experiencing such behavior without cameras, should accept this bigotry as the cost of simply existing. That cannot be the standard we hold ourselves to.

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Win Without War is a diverse network of activists and national organizations working for progressive foreign policy in the United States.

September 18, 2024