World Leaders Pile on Trump for Plan to Bar Muslims
Donald Trump's call to temporarily block Muslims from entering the United States drew swift rebukes today from international leaders and the world's Muslim population alike.
British Prime Minister David Cameron views Trump's opinion as "divisive, unhelpful and quite simply wrong," according to his official spokeswoman.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls echoed Cameron, tweeting this morning, "Mr. Trump, like others, strokes hatred and confusion: our only enemy is radical Islam."
In Egypt, Islamic legal research institute Dar al-Ifta described Trump's comments as "racist and fanatic," warning that such remarks fuel tension and hatred between Islam and the West.
"Trump claimed that Muslims hate Americas and they pose a threat to America. This is nonsense. Islam calls for coexistence, integration and cooperation among all people on earth," the educational institute told ABC News. "It is unfair to punish all Muslims because of a group of fanatics whom the Islamic Sharia condemned for their criminal activities."
Egyptian talk show host Bassem Youssef, known as the Jon Stewart of the Middle East, used a more lighthearted tone to make a similar point, tweeting, "I didn't know Donald Trump was fluent in Nazi."
But Trump continued to defend his plan today, telling ABC News, "Something has to be done" about the risk of terrorism to the United States.
Trump's plan would block all Muslims from entering the United States, with an exception for U.S. citizens who are Muslim, who would come and go as they wish. He hopes the ban "will go quickly," as soon as "our leaders figure out what the hell is going on," Trump said on "Good Morning America" today.
In Indonesia, a country that more than 200 million Muslims call home, Muhyidin Junaidi, the head of foreign affairs at the top Muslim clerical body, said such remarks will "backfire" on Trump. "Muslims in America will not vote for him," he said.
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