President Barack Oba-ma on Saturday urged Americans not to stigmatise Muslims following this week’s deadly attacks in Brussels, saying that doing so is “counterproductive” in the fight against radical
President Barack Oba-ma on Saturday urged Americans not to stigmatise Muslims following this week’s deadly attacks in Brussels, saying that doing so is “counterproductive” in the fight against radical Islam.
In his weekly media address, Mr Obama said Muslim-Americ-ans are “our most important partners in the nation’s fight against those who would wage violent jihad. “Our determination is to win the battle against ISIL’s hateful and violent propaganda — a distorted view of Islam that aims to radicalise young Muslims to their cause,” he said.
“That’s why we have to reject any attempt to stigmatise Muslim-Am-ericans, and their enormous contributions to our country and our way of life,” Mr Obama said. “Such attempts are contrary to our character, to our values, and to our history as a nation built around the idea of religious freedom. It’s also counterproductive,” he said.
“It plays right into the hands of terrorists who want to turn us against one another — who need a reason to recruit more people to their hateful cause.”
“At least 14 Ameri-cans were injured, and we pray for their full recovery, along with everyone else affected by these attacks,” Mr Obama said.
The remarks by the Democratic President follow controversial st-atements in the wake of the Brussels bombings by the two top Republi-cans vying to succeed him in the White Hou-se. Texas Senator Ted Cruz demanded this week that police “patrol and secure” Muslim neighbourhoods in the US in the aftermath of the Brussels attacks, and reiterated an earlier call to suspend the relocation of Syrian refugees to the country. Donald Trump, meanwhile, repeated his de-mand for the government to temporarily bar all Muslims from entering the US.
