By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON (AA) - The Biden administration must "indefinitely" suspend arms shipments to Israel amid an "unacceptable" civilian death toll, a Black civil rights group pivotal to the upcoming presidential election urged Thursday.
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) President and CEO Derrick Johnson said in a statement that a cease-fire proposal presented to Hamas last week "must clarify the consequences of continued violence."
The US and the international community must also "be willing to pull the levers of power when appropriate to advance liberation for all," said Johnson.
"The Middle East conflict will only be resolved when the U.S. government and international community take action, including limiting access to weapons used against civilians. The NAACP calls on President Biden to draw the red line and indefinitely end the shipment of weapons and artillery to the state of Israel and other states that supply weapons to Hamas and other terrorist organizations," he said.
"It is imperative that the violence that has claimed so many civilian lives, immediately stop. Hamas must return the hostages and stop all terrorist activity. Israel must commit to an offensive strategy that is aligned with International and Humanitarian laws," he added.
The NAACP is the largest civil rights group in the US that advocates for racial justice and police reform, and its appeal raises the stakes for President Joe Biden after he has for months refused to put meaningful limits on the supply of US arms to Israel despite a growing volume of civilian deaths cause by Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
US-made weapons have been linked to several high-profile Israeli attacks, including an airstrike overnight Wednesday that hit a UN facility.
The Black community is key to Biden's re-election efforts, and will play a pivotal role in swing states come November, including Georgia, Michigan and North Carolina.
Johnson also urged Hamas to free the hostages that it continues to hold in Gaza following its Oct. 7 cross-border attack on Israel, "and stop all terrorist activity."
More than 36,650 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza during the eight-month war, the vast majority of whom have been women and children. Over 83,300 others have been injured, according to local health authorities.
Vast swathes of Gaza now lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine that has pushed the coastal enclave into what the UN describes as "full-blown famine."
Nearly all of Gaza's population has been forced into displacement.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before Israel invaded on May 6.