By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON (AA) - The three Muslim American lawmakers in the US Congress warned Tuesday that "bigoted anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian hate" is sweeping through the nation's politics amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
Representatives Andre Carson, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, all Democrats, pointed to legislation introduced by Republican Representative Ryan Zinke last week to forcibly deport some Palestinians from the US, saying it is part of "a growing tide of bigoted anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian hate pervading our politics."
Zinke, a disgraced former Donald Trump administration official, introduced the legislation last Thursday. It would also block Palestinians from receiving new visas and refugee status, and being granted asylum.
"Let’s be clear: using the full power of the state to target and persecute a particular ethnic group or nationality is fascism and pure bigotry. This legislation—by a former cabinet official no less—directly violates the U.S. Constitution, and would illegally destroy the lives of the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian immigrants," Carson, Omar and Tlaib said in a statement.
The lawmakers also pointed to statements from several Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives and the Senate that called for the full destruction of the besieged Gaza Strip, appealed for a "religious war," or more fundamentally questioned whether Palestinian civilians exist.
“This dangerous rhetoric is already costing lives—as the murder of 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy Wadea Al-Fayoume in Chicago so tragically highlights, plus the over 10,000 people murdered in Gaza, almost half of whom are innocent children," they said.
“We call on the leadership of both parties to vocally and specifically condemn these comments and legislation, to make clear that anti-Muslim and anti-Arab hate has no place in our politics, and to name it when it happens," they added.
Al-Fayoume was murdered Oct. 14 in an attack outside of Chicago that left his mother badly injured. Police have identified the suspect in the attack as Joseph Czuba, 71, the landlord of the house al-Fayoume and his mother, Hanaan Shahin, were renting when they were attacked.
Police have said the attack was motivated by the victims' Palestinian and Muslim identities.
Czuba pleaded not guilty in a Will County court last week