Media Segment Excerpt:

One thousand Muslim American community leaders and members from across the Chicago region made a resounding call for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza amid the rising civilian death toll.

They came together at the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Chicago's 20th annual banquet, recently held in Oak Brook, focused on defending human rights and combating hate.

State Rep. Nabeela Syed of Inverness gave an impassioned speech, saying her calls for peace and de-escalation have been met with bigotry.

"Conflating calls for peace with support for terrorism is dangerous," she said. "These claims can lead to the hatred of entire nationalities, ethnicities and religions who are deemed terrorist sympathizers for simply asking that people be given basic human rights. We need a cease-fire and we need to demand every single person elected to stand on the side of humanity. "

The recent violence was triggered by Hamas' Oct. 7 cross-border attack, which killed about 1,400 people in Israel and led to 240 others, including children, being taken captive. More than 9,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed since, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza -- that includes more than 3,700 Palestinian children and minors. More than 7,000 Palestinian children have been injured. Israeli military airstrikes also have driven more than half the Gaza Strip's 2.3 million people from their homes, while food, water and fuel run low, The Associated Press reports.