Fearing an anti-Arab American backlash in the wake of speculation about the bombing in Oklahoma this week, Jewish groups joined President Clinton and Arab American organizations to condemn all ethnic stereotyping.
Noting that three Arab American organizations condemned the bombing, President Clinton said, “This is not a question of anybody’s country of origin. This is not a question of anybody’s religion. This was murder, this was evil, this was wrong.”
At a Rose Garden news conference with visiting Brazilian President Fernando Cardoso on Thursday, Clinton added, “We should not stereotype anybody. What we need to do is to find out who did this and punish them harshly.”
Concern over repercussions for Arab Americans arose as reports surfaced in the immediate wake of the bombing that police were searching for three Middle Eastern men.
By late Thursday, Immigration and Naturalization Service officials in Oklahoma and Texas had reportedly detained three men of Middle Eastern origin after suspicions about their car were raised by Oklahoma police.
In another development in the investigation, a man of Jordanian descent flying from Chicago to London was denied entry to Britain and flown back to the United States for questioning.
The Anti-Defamation League joined with the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, the National Association of Arab Americans and the Arab American Institute to condemn any stereotyping of Arab Americans.
“It is unfair and contrary to everything we stand for to paint with a brush and ethnic group,” said Abraham Foxman, ADL’s national director.
If there is a Middle East connection to the bombing, he said, “the Arab American community is not to be held responsible or stereotyped.”
Foxman praised Clinton for “using the biggest pulpit in the world” to take this stand.
In a statement condemning the bombing, Khalil Jahshan, National Association of Arab Americans executive director, expressed concern about potential backlash against Arab Americans and Americans Muslims.
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee echoed the sentiment in a statement expressing “grave concern” that hate crimes against Arab Americans could rise in the wake of “premature, and perhaps unfounded speculation as to the ethnicity of the suspects.”
No matter what the investigation into the Oklahoma bombing turns up, Americans should not discriminate against any ethnic group, said the American Zionist Movement in a statement.
The bombing was “an act of evil perpetrators and should not be used as a reason for maligning an entire community,” said Seymour Reich, president of AZM.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
