AJC Decries Call to Ban Muslims from Entering the United States

NEW YORK, Dec. 7, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC condemned in the strongest terms the latest offensive and inflammatory comments from Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who today suggested that all Muslims should be banned from entering the United States.

"As Americans, who just observed a holiday remembering the Pilgrims who fled religious persecution in Europe to found a new home on these shores, we find Mr. Trump's call abhorrent and wrong," said AJC Associate Executive Director for Policy Jason Isaacson. "And as Jews who are now observing Hanukkah, a holiday that celebrates a small religious minority's right to live unmolested, we are deeply disturbed by the nativist racism inherent in the candidate's latest remarks. You don't need to go back to the Hanukkah story to see the horrific results of religious persecution; religious stereotyping of this sort has been tried often, inevitably with disastrous results.

"Yes, this country faces the very real threat of radical Islamist terror. We cannot, however, fall into the trap of blaming and banning an entire religious group, who overwhelmingly reject the violence and extremism of Islamist terrorists.

"We were heartened to see condemnation of these comments come from all corners of the American political establishment, and we urge Mr. Trump to reconsider his views."

AJC, a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization, does not endorse or oppose candidates for political office.

SOURCE American Jewish Committee

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