US congressman says 'mainstream Muslims' should be 'destroyed,’ drawing condemnation

WASHINGTON

Republican Congressman Randy Fine said this week that “mainstream Muslims” should be “destroyed,” drawing condemnation from a prominent US Muslim civil rights organization.

Fine — who has a history of making Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian statements — made the remarks during a congressional hearing Tuesday while discussing Israeli policies in the occupied West Bank.

He claimed that Palestinians “invented a new name” rather than calling themselves “Jordanians” to create “a third state” and cited an alleged sign in the occupied West Bank warning Israelis not to enter certain areas.

He went on to argue that critics “are afraid of being called Islamophobic” before adding: “I’m not afraid of that.” Fine then said he does not know “how you make peace with those who seek your destruction,” concluding: “I think you destroy them first.”

Fine later shared the clip on the US social media company X’s platform, writing: “Rep. Fine on How to Deal with Mainstream Muslims: “I don’t know how you make peace with those who seek your destruction, I think you destroy them first.”

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights organization, released a statement Thursday calling on House leaders to demand Fine’s resignation, saying his remarks amounted to an explicit call for genocide against Muslims.

“If any elected official had called for the genocide of all ‘mainstream Jews’ or ‘mainstream Christians,’ their career would rightfully be over,” CAIR said.

“Although Mr. Fine has made hateful and genocidal remarks in the past, his explicit call for the destruction of all ‘mainstream Muslims’ leaves no doubt that he is a bigoted sociopath unworthy of a seat in Congress,” it added.

According to Palestinian health authorities, Israel’s genocidal war in the Gaza Strip has killed more than 70,300 people and injured over 171,000 since October 2023.

Israeli forces and illegal settlers have killed at least 1,093 Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, injured nearly 11,000, and detained around 21,000 since October 2023, according to Palestinian figures.

In a landmark opinion in July last year, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.