Omar Slams Abbott as Unfit for Office Amid His “Vile” Islamophobic Spree
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) has labeled Texas Gov. Greg Abbott as a “bigot” unfit for elected office as the far right politician goes on an Islamophobic spree targeting Muslim communities across his state.
“Greg Abbot called CAIR [the Council on American-Islamic Relations], the largest Muslim civil rights organization, a ‘terrorist organization’ and said Muslims are a ‘threat to our freedom.’ The normalization of anti-Muslim hate speech is vile,” Omar said in a post on social media on Wednesday.
“This bigot should have no place in elected office,” she went on.
On Tuesday, Abbott’s office announced that it was attempting to label the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR as “foreign terrorist organizations.” With the label, he claimed, he could bar the groups from purchasing or acquiring land in the state. CAIR and other critics noted that only the State Department, in consultation with other federal officials, has the authority to label groups as foreign terrorist organizations.
Further, on Wednesday, Abbott sent a letter to district attorneys and sheriffs of two counties in Texas urging them to investigate and potentially shut down Islamic mediation groups. Making heavy use of scare quotes, Abbott singled out these groups, which operate based on Islamic law, or Sharia, and accused them of acting in place of the court system.
One group singled out by Abbott, the Islamic Tribunal, describes itself as a “mediation and non-binding arbitration firm that adheres to Islamic principles in the Muslim community” on its website.
Mediation groups of all kinds exist across the country and the world, and are used to resolve disputes on a wide variety of topics, from commercial matters to personal ones. Faith-specific groups are also common, aiming to incorporate the tenets of different religious beliefs in the conflict resolution process — something courts and other government entities are barred from doing.
Still, there have been dozens of attempts across states to ban religious mediators practicing Islamic law specifically, based on longstanding and hateful bigotry against Muslims.
Abbott recognized the role of different religious groups’ dispute systems, but said, without evidence, that Muslim groups are uniquely harmful. “A Presbyterian session, a Catholic bishop, a Jewish beit din — all may inquire into wrongdoing and correct their members to preserve the purity, peace, and good order of a congregation,” he said in his letter. “It is different entirely, however, for religious groups to set up courts purporting to replace actual courts of law to evade neutral and generally applicable laws.”
CAIR-Texas said that this is a blatant misunderstanding of Islamic law and “sharia courts” that represents “a direct assault on religious freedom.”
“If Abbott is referring to private arbitration that businesses, religious communities, and others sometimes choose to engage in, every American has the right to engage in voluntary arbitration, only official courts can enforce private arbitration decisions, and such decisions must not violate public policy or the law,” the group said. “CAIR-Texas plans to continue to vigorously defend the Texas Muslim community from this governor’s increasingly desperate and deranged attempts to shred the First Amendment.”
State lawmakers have also sharply criticized Abbott for his attacks on Muslim groups and the communities that he is supposed to serve as an elected official.
“Greg Abbott doesn’t want Texans to look at him when they can’t afford home insurance, public schools close down, and health care is out of reach for millions of families,” said Texas state Rep. Suleman Lalani, a Democrat. “He wants you to think that Muslims and other minorities are the enemy. But his failing policies are the enemy of Texas families.”
“The federal government is the one that makes terrorist designations; the Governor of Texas simply invents campaign issues to avoid accountability,” Lalani said.
Democratic commissioners from Harris County, one of the counties contacted by Abbott, also condemned Abbott’s attacks. “Harris County has thrived as a welcoming place for all,” the commissioners said in a joint statement. “We all work together to build a safe, prosperous community. The governor’s rhetoric fractures community trust and undermines the safety and cohesion that government is meant to protect.”