US politician who’s pitting Muslims against Jews once quoted Hitler in congress


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American member of congress Mo Brooks has claimed in a radio interview that Muslims have “great animosity towards Israel and the Jewish faith”. Brooks used this claim to criticise Muslim congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. A clip of Brooks’ inflammatory statement, which has been circulating online, has caused outrage. And this isn’t the first time he’s provoked such a reaction.

Bigotry

How to even respond to the statement that Muslims as a group, all 1.8 billion of us, have an animosity “more so than most people” towards Israel and the Jewish faith? I am a Muslim who has pushed for Palestinian liberation, opposes oppression by the Israeli government, and is also an ally to Jewish people. However, when it comes to politics, Muslims, like any other group of people, represent a diverse spectrum of views and levels of engagement.

As for Muslims being against “the Jewish faith”, this, again, remains an unfounded claim that only feeds into Islamophobic sentiment. Brooks’ comments have been described as “open bigotry”:

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Omar, similarly, called Brooks’ views bigoted:

People were quick to point out that similar comments about other religious groups would not be tolerated:

White supremacy in the Trump administration

Many pointed out the irony of Brooks accusing Muslim people of antisemitism when he has, himself, quoted Hitler’s Mein Kampf on the congress floor:

Since Donald Trump himself made grossly antisemitic comments only days ago, Brooks’ views, as a Trump supporter and Republican party member, come as no surprise:

Censure

In the wake of Brooks’ racist comments, people are calling for him to apologise, be censured, and even face removal from office:

The entire episode does make you wonder: what will it actually take for people to finally admit the Trump administration is allowing white supremacist ideology to become increasingly mainstream?

Featured image via YouTube/ AL.com

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  • Show Comments

    1. Racism. Pure and simple. As usual slippery terms are employed: Jewish is confused with Zionist, the Jewish faith with being a citizen of the State of Israel…If he’s right, then all Muslims must hate Noam Chomsky, as he defines himself as Jewish. The claims couldn’t stand up to serious questioning by average ten-year-old; but that is the level of international debate propelled by such people. Its purpose is to spread across the globe a mentality of fear of the other, of prejudice, of hatred, of narrow definitions of what it means to be human. The descent into nationalist bigotry, into false religious contention and into the meaningless elaboration of “racial” division ( there is only one “race”, the human race) serves those whose intentions are antidemocratic, whose twisted mentality delights in conflict so long as they are the winning side. Weak-minded, regressed, vicious, these people play on irrational fears and impulses. We must face them down by an international insistence on common standards and impersonal values.

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