San Diego Islamic leaders met at a news conference Thursday. NBC7’s Wendy Fry has more.
A local Islamic civil liberties organization and other interfaith organizations on Thursday condemned the Paris attacks, as well as a U.S. House of Representatives vote to essentially halt a program aimed at resettling thousands of Syrian refugees in the United States.
The San Diego office of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) said they wanted to make it clear: the terrorists who slaughtered 129 innocent people in a series coordinated mass shootings and suicide bombs have nothing to do with Islam.
“First and foremost, what happened in France is despicable. These are groups of thugs. Groups of terrorists. They are criminals,” said CAIR Executive Director Hanif Mohebi. “We want everyone to know that we condemn them in the most absolute terms.”
Mohebi said we should stop identifying the terrorist groups with the religion of Islam.
“It’s very important for us to know that they have nothing to do with Islam,” Mohebi said. “In fact, we should stop calling them ‘Islamic State.’ They’re not Islamic, and they’re not a state.”
This comes on the heels of the House’s vote to pause President Barack Obama’s plan to bring Syrian refugees to the U.S. and to require that the FBI create a background check for any refugee who spent time in Syria or Iraq after March 2011.
Mohebi and other interfaith leaders said they’re very concerned Syrian refugees are being blamed for terrorism. They're also worried that a pregnant Muslim woman was assaulted in Mission Valley the same night as the Paris attacks.
Local
Mohebi said threats against Muslims in San Diego are up significantly. This year, there have been 170 reports of threats locally, he said.
Interfaith Worker Justice Rabbi Laurie Coskey spoke about the decision to delay Syrian refugees arrival here.
“I am emotional this morning because the news yesterday recalled a ship named St. Louis that was turned away from here,” Coskey said. “More than 60 years ago, a boat full of Jews seeking refuge from what would have been sure annihilation and end that they met when they returned and not allowed to come into the United States and even other ports turned them away. It's still very difficult to talk about.”
Of our local delegation, U.S. Reps. Darrell Issa, R-CA 49th; Duncan Hunter, R-CA 50th; and Scott Peters, D-CA 52th, voted for The American SAFE Act. Reps. Juan Vargas, D-CA 51st, and Susan Davis, D-CA 53rd, voted against it.
