CAIR says Biden deserves 'zero credit' for Gaza truce deal

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has said US President Joe Biden deserves "zero credit" for the Gaza ceasefire deal, saying he cost lives by refusing to force a deal long ago.

"We welcome this long overdue ceasefire deal, which President Biden should have forced Netanyahu to accept over a year ago instead of needlessly funding so much death and destruction," CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said in a statement on Wednesday.

"President Biden and his failed foreign policy team deserve zero credit for this belated deal. Instead of using US leverage to secure this deal long ago, they spent over a year violating US law and making a mockery of international law by using billions of American taxpayer dollars to fund the Israeli government's war crimes and depriving the American people of critical services."

CAIR said the Biden administration's legacy is soaked with the blood of the Palestinians and an untold number of Israeli captives, urging the International Criminal Court (ICC) to continue war crime cases against Prime Minister Netanyahu and others responsible for the genocide.

The nonprofit also commended President-elect Donald Trump for the ceasefire deal after reportedly he pressed Israel.

"We urge the incoming Trump administration to ensure that the Israeli government does not sabotage this ceasefire deal, and we also urge the administration to pursue the end of the occupation so that a just, lasting peace can prevail across the region," CAIR said.

Ceasefire after devastation

Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, officially announced the breakthrough at a press conference in the capital, Doha, on Wednesday.

The deal includes a prisoner exchange, Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a roadmap to sustained calm, with its implementation set to begin Sunday.

The announcement comes on day 468 of Israel's genocide against Gaza, which, with US backing, has killed and wounded more than 156,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

The war has left more than 11,000 people missing, with widespread destruction and a humanitarian crisis that has claimed the lives of many elderly people and children in one of the worst global humanitarian disasters in recent times.