The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today said President Trump’s claim at the United Nations General Assembly that London wants to “go to Sharia law” and a resurgence in other baseless anti-Muslim conspiracy theories are meant to distract from the real threat to western societies: crackdowns on free speech for the benefit of the genocidal Israeli government.
He claimed: “You have a terrible mayor, terrible, terrible mayor, and it’s been so changed, so changed. Now they want to go to Sharia law, but you’re in a different country. You can’t do that.” The president did not offer a source for his claim.
A spokesperson for London’s mayor said: “We are not going to dignify his appalling and bigoted comments with a response.”
In a statement, CAIR said:
“The claim that London, a city dominated by the political left in a country run by a secular government, is somehow moving toward the establishment of Islamic law is a baseless claim meant to distract from the real threat to western societies: governments that sacrifice the free speech rights of their citizens for the benefit of the Israeli government and waste the taxpayer dollars of their citizens on a genocide, all under pressure from anti-Palestinian lobby groups.
“There’s a reason fearmongering about Muslims and Islamic law in western societies has kicked into high-gear in places as varied as Texas and the UK just months after the Israeli foreign ministry commissioned a poll that showed whipping up fear of Muslims was the best way to distract western audiences from the Gaza genocide.
“Such conspiracy theories have repeatedly inspired extremists to launch violent attacks on British Muslims and others across the world, from the Christchurch mosque massacres in New Zealand to the Norway mass shooting and bombing to ongoing attacks on mosques in the UK.
“From America to the United Kingdom, most people are not falling for this nonsense again. They want their governments to stop cracking down on peaceful protests, censoring social media, threatening free speech, and funding genocide for the benefit of a rogue nation.”
Earlier this month, CAIR’s Texas chapter condemned Governor Abbott’s inflammatory social media post falsely claiming that he had signed laws banning “Sharia law” and “Sharia compounds” in Texas.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com