Start of Trump presidency with human rights violation

Trump pretends to fight violence and what he calls Islamic extremism. Islamophobia in the US not only has not decreased for the past 15 years (after September 11 events) but has been intensified during the 15 month of US presidential campaigns.

Generally, Donald Trump should be blamed for this. The new US president said in his swearing ceremony: We will completely remove radical Islamic terrorism from planet earth.

The 2016 US presidential election showed that Islamophobia is alive and is politically usable. Making Islam a pretext and portraying a violent image of Muslims meant an upper hand strategy for Trump rather than a mere campaign message.  

Khaled A. Beydoun Associate Professor of Law at Detroit Mercy University, in an article wrote: Fear and suspicion towards Islam or Islamophobia was in the heart of 2016 presidential campaign. The Republican candidates and, above all, Donald Trump brought the literature of attacking Islam and Muslims amid an impasse caused by the fear of terrorism and domestic extremism to its peak. Requests for banning migration of Muslims showed the deep political Islamophobia in 2016 presidential elections.

Since nomination of Trump for presidency racist remarks were made against Muslims and harassment and killing of Muslims increased by extremist nationalists. Killing an Arab American by his neighbor in Oklahoma was one of these cases. The chauvinist and racist American called his Arab neighbors as dirty Arabs and Lebanese. The enmity of this American did not end in these insults. He gunned down his Arab neighbor. 

The Lebanese-American family of the victim says: the American’s accusation was not a new event and they had got used to it. They lodged a complaint to the court in 2013 and the court merely banned the American criminal from establishing contact with his neighbors. But he several times violated the court’s verdict. In September last year, the American chauvinist ran over the mother of the Lebanese family and hospitalized her for 4 weeks. Consequently, the American man was detained and sent to prison. His request for bail was not agreed till three months ago when a different judge allowed the 61 year old man to leave the prison on bail and be free from his trial in 2017. On the night that the Lebanese neighbor was killed, based on the information given by the American housemate, he contacted the police and said that the American man carries a gun. The police came but did not enter the house. After the police left the place, the American chauvinist came out and shot dead his Lebanese neighbor. After this crime, legal director of Council on American-Islamic Relations Veronica Leisure in Oklahoma, in reaction to the crime committed by the American racist said: Muslims and non-Muslims were frightened at hearing this news. People are mainly angry with the police failure in protecting the Lebanese American citizen. Trump’s allegations against Muslims and immigrants were very offensive to the sentiments of people. Some people use the Arabic language or dialect trying to mock others or induce that Arabs or Muslims are scary. Harassment of Muslims or Arabs or insulting them in the US has increased on a daily basis and such conditions became worse with the allegations raised by individuals such as a presidential candidate against Muslims. In his election campaign, Trump said: Islam hates us and accused the American Muslims of supporting terrorists. These remarks increased Islamophobia and crimes based on violence against Muslims.

A new report released by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism in San Bernardino State University in California showed that political literature is effective in decreasing or increasing the crimes related to xenophobia . The report shows that the xenophobic crimes caused by Islamophobia in 2015 had reached their highest level since September 11, 2001 highly dubious events. The report also says that the anti-Islamic literature of Trump might lead to negative reaction by Muslims. Brian Levin, author of the report says: there are definite documents and evidence showing that political literature plays a major role in guiding the behavior of the post terrorist attacks. In a report released by George Town University in May 2016, it was said that threat, intimidation and violence against Muslim Americans increased unprecedentedly in the recent presidential elections. The author of the report Abdul-Qader believes that these models are probably related to Trump’s coming to the political scene. He says: Trump has abused the people’s fear and concern. I think, in some cases, this has led not only to enmity but to violence.

Moreover, the Muslim Girl Research Group has presented a list of Islamophobic attacks since August 6, 2015 when the first debate of US presidential election began. This organization declared that during 512 days 569 Islamophobic attacks have taken place in the US. Following the rising of such attacks on Muslims in the US, 90 religious and non-religious civil organizations sent a letter to the US Congressmen, stressing that adoption of anti-Muslim strategies like forcing Muslims to present their personal information at the national level is in stark contradiction to the American principles of religious freedom and freedom of expression.

But Trump’s Islamophobic measures continued after his presidency so much so that his government, in an oppressive and discriminatory measure and contrary to human rights criteria, has forbidden the entry of nationals of 7 Muslim countries in the US territory. This, before being a real decision to boost precautionary measures against probable terrorism, was a ploy to ensure his voters that he has fulfilled his subservience to Zionist lobbies.

The American Wax publication in an article titled: ‘Trump says the goal of the ban is to protect the US but actually it is Islamophobia’, wrote: In Trump’s executive order he has not used the term of Islam or Muslim probably for legal reasons. But this law is full of codes that its intention is realized.

Trump’s order reads: in order to protect the Americans, the US should be ensured that the individuals who enter this country have no hostility to it and its fundamental principles. The US cannot and should not accept those who do not support the constitution or those who prefer violent ideology to American laws.

The mentality shaping this order is that Muslims, especially foreign Muslims, are considered as a special kind of violent extremist threat.

Ahmad Al-Sharqawi, in an article in “Panorama Al-Sharq Al-Awsat website” writes: Trump with his Zionist moral and Jewish belief set his performance on the basis of serving Israel and belief in the reappearance of Jesus for saving the Jews from the Muslim enemies. He explicitly revealed his hostility to Muslims. In fact the main nucleus of clash is religious ideology and by portraying Islam and Muslims as enemy and a preliminary to the reappearance of Jesus (PBUH), Trump in his first election campaign  promised the transfer of US embassy from Tel Aviv to the holy Quds. It is quite evident that the political prelude of this deviated belief is to take into consideration Islam as the religion of evilness, terrorism and instability in the world. By connecting Islam to terrorism, Trump tries to portray his war as a kind of cultural war.

Trump insists on campaign against what he claims “violent ideology” which in his belief is Islamic extremism. The core of Trump’s policy is to turn Muslims into extremists through provoking and insulting them; hence, he maintains that the resulting riot will sweep the entire world and bring the US to destruction.

Atlantic publication in an article titled ‘Donald Trump and emergence of anti-Islamic violence’ writes: Trump’s paradox of anti-Islamic literature is that he has promised a serious fight against terrorism but at the end it might expose not only the American Muslims but all Americans to insecurity.
FK/RM/EA