WASHINGTON (JTA) – Three Jewish organizations joined 15 other interfaith groups to express concern that the White House is marginalizing American Muslims.
Bend the Arc: a Jewish Partnership for Justice, the National Council of Jewish Women and T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call to Justice signed a Feb. 12 letter to President Barack Obama ahead of the upcoming White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism, which criticized the publicity for the upcoming summit as focusing only on Islamic extremists.
“As you know, studies by the FBI and the Southern Poverty Law Center have shown that the overwhelming majority of terrorist incidents in the United States were committed by non-Muslims,” the letter said. The groups said that they were concerned about “focusing exclusively on Islamic extremists, which risks contributing to the marginalization of American Muslims.”
The letter was spearheaded by the Interfaith Alliance, whose executive director is Rabbi Jack Moline, the former head of the National Jewish Democratic Council.
“Unfortunately, no single religion has a monopoly on extremist violence,” Moline said. “The White House must make sure not to unfairly single out American Muslims as it seeks to confront violent extremism perpetrated in the name of any faith or ideology.”
