CAIR-Ohio has decided to withdraw its support from this year’s Columbus City Council Iftar event. We are deeply troubled by the ongoing genocide in Palestine and cannot, in good conscience, partake in festivities with those who refuse to acknowledge the unimaginable suffering that our brothers and sisters in Palestine endure.
The City Council’s delay in passing a ceasefire resolution and the absence of supportive statements from Mayor Ginther, Council President Shannon Hardin, and Council Members Rob Doran, Nicholas Bankston, Nancy Day-Achauer, and Emmanuel Remy, represent glaring omissions in addressing the ongoing genocide. We thank Council Members Shayla Favors, Lourdes Barroso de Padilla, Melissa Green, and Christopher L. Wyche, who have personally called for a ceasefire after hearing from our communities; however, it remains crucial that the City of Columbus as whole take immediate action to call for a ceasefire in Gaza and address the surge in Islamophobia locally.
The staggering statistics of at least 31,726 lives lost, and more than 73,792 individuals injured in Gaza and the hundreds more in occupied West Bank, demand urgent attention and intervention. Federal, state, and local leaders, including our Council, must unequivocally stand against the atrocities being committed. It is our moral imperative to speak up when our government is funding and enabling this genocide and complicit in Israel’s human rights violations.
We urge our Muslim community and allies to:
- Refrain from events that do not acknowledge or address the ongoing genocide
- Rescind and pause invitations to government officials until they recognize the violence and humanitarian tragedy unfolding in Gaza and call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire
We stand with and commend the community members who have continued to show up, pleading with the Council to call for a ceasefire, despite the intimidation and lack of support from the Council.
This decision is a commitment of solidarity to stand with the oppressed, locally and abroad.
Response Message for Those Invited:
Thank you for extending the invitation to the Columbus City Council Iftar. However, considering the ongoing crisis in Palestine and the lack of meaningful action from the City Council and Mayor Ginther, I must respectfully decline to participate this year. My thoughts are with those who continue to suffer, and I stand in solidarity with efforts to address the root causes and promote peace, which cannot be achieved without justice.
