"All of Islam isn't the enemy of America": NYT Editorial
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WASHINGTON: (APP) An influential American newspaper, The New York Times, in an opinion piece by its Editorial Board published on Thursday, warned the new Trump administration that the ban on travelers from seven Muslim countries and its reported intent to designate the Muslim Brotherhood group will alienate the entire Muslim world.
The article "All of Islam isn't the Enemy" by the Editorial Board observed that actions by President Trump that include ban on refugees and visa holders from seven Muslim counties would not go well with the Islamic world.
"Is President Trump trying to make enemies of the entire Muslim world? That could well happen if he follows up his primitive ban on refugees and visa holders from seven Muslim nations with an order designating the Muslim Brotherhood," the Editorial Board asked.
The ban President Trump announced this month through an executive order has been challenged by Attorney Generals of a few states and has been stayed by a federal court. The decision is expected soon.
Top Senate Democrats Sen. Dick Durbin and Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, who are the new leaders of the Senate subcommittee on Immigration have called for holding hearings into the controversial immigration executive banning order.
"Such an order, now under consideration, would be seen by many Muslims as another attempt to vilify adherents of Islam," the NYT Editorial Board SAID adding that it appears to part of the campaign by some closest advisers of President Trump to 'dangerously exaggerate' vision of an America under siege by so-called 'radical Islam.'
The Editorial Board said that the struggle against extremism is complex, and solutions must be tailored both to the facts and to an understanding of the likely consequences.
The Board warned against designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a foreign terrorist organization, something that former President Barrack Obama had resisted.
"There are good reasons that the Brotherhood, with millions of members, doesn't merit the terrorist designation," the Editorial Board said adding that it was the collection of groups and movements that can vary widely from country to country.
While the Brotherhood calls for a society governed by Islamic law, it renounced violence decades ago, has supported elections and has become a political and social organization.
The editorial said that advisers of President Trump seem unwilling to draw distinctions.
It is wrongheaded and dangerous to tar all Brotherhood members with one brush, the editorial warned.
