US Muslim group urges Biden to condemn Israeli killings of 2 Palestinian children in West Bank

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - A Muslim American advocacy group urged President Joe Biden to condemn Israel's killings of two Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday.

Adam Samer al-Ghoul, 8, and Basil Suleiman Abu al-Wafa, 15, were fatally shot by Israeli forces during an 18-hour raid in Jenin that also saw major destruction in the city and its refugee camp.

The Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed the children's deaths and video of the killings has spread on social media.

Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said Biden "should condemn the killing of Palestinian children in the same way that he rightly condemns violence targeting others."

"The killing of Palestinian children by Israel’s far-right apartheid government will continue until the decades-long dehumanization of the Palestinian people and the systematic denial of their rights by the Global North comes to an end," Awad said in a statement.

"Our nation’s leaders must finally recognize that Palestinians are human beings who do have rights, including the right to life," he added.

The National Security Council did not immediately return an Anadolu request for comment on the killings.