World

Gulf leaders decry 'racist' rhetoric against Muslims

GCC calls for providing necessary protection for refugees who are fleeing twin fires of unjust rule and terror groups

Reuters December 10, 2015

GCC leaders pictured at their summit in Riyadh. PHOTO: REUTERS

DUBAI: Gulf Arab leaders condemned "hostile, racist" remarks against Muslims and Syrian refugees on Thursday, days after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called for a ban Muslims entering the United States.

"The supreme council expressed its deep concern at the increase of hostile, racist and inhumane rhetoric against refugees in general and Muslims in particular," the Gulf Cooperation Council said, referring to a GCC heads of state meeting in Riyadh.

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It called for "providing the necessary protection for the displaced and refugees who are fleeing the twin fires of unjust rule and terrorist groups."

Republican frontrunner Trump called on Monday for the ban on Muslims, the most dramatic response yet by any candidate to last week's shooting spree by two Muslims who the FBI said had been radicalised.

Muslim proposal prompts calls to ban Trump from UK, Israel

The United Nations refugee agency said such rhetoric was harming its resettlement program. The International Organisation for Migration responded to Trump's comments by saying any discrimination based on religion went against all international accords on dealing with refugees.

COMMENTS (9)

Hameed | 8 years ago | Reply Most racists countries in the world calling others racist. Irony

Ali | 8 years ago | Reply What hypocrisy. Gulf leaders dont allow any muslim immigrants or refugees, nor do they allow non muslims to peacefully live there without harassment for being non muslim.

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3rdRockFromTheSun | 8 years ago | Reply "Gulf Arab leaders condemned “hostile, racist” remarks against ..." Ha ha ha; that was funny! Thanks for the laughs! Have these "Gulf Arab" leaders ever looked inside their own countries to see the "hostile, racist" attitudes there persist there ? And how many refugees (it's not just Syrian, but Afghans, Iraqis, and others but from mainly Islamic countries) have these countries to which the "Gulf Arab leaders" belong, taken in? Come to think of it, how many of these "Gulf Arab" countries have ever had a free and fair election? Maybe they should start there, before calling others "hostile and racist"!!

Azi | 8 years ago | Reply Sitting in their massive, overly beautified halls, whose beauty doesnt even come to par with the level of discussion that takes place between these arab "leaders" is at the least pathetic. What have they done besides "decry"? The same thing they excel at, noting. Its their golden time to live, spend wealth on meaningless things, their downfall is soon approaching then they will be really powerless. IMF already predicted SA filing bankruptcy by 2030 while by the time its unemployment rate rises to 30% and household income drops to 20%. Keep giving away money and cars to pilots who would happily bomb others, its what SA's leaders signify. Greed beyond measure.

Skywalker | 8 years ago | Reply When is Pakistan passing a resolution in Assembly and I am also waiting for OIC to say something. Nothing beyond that is expected frim Ummah. All this has no value till we take Syrians as refugees. It is only a lip service.

Jsmith | 8 years ago | Reply I was unaware Islam is a race. That aside, the anti-Trump crowd is being very selective in (mis)quoting him. He said he wanted to stop Muslim immigration until the system to bring them into the US can be reviewed. How long will that take? Who knows. A month. Maybe a couple of months. Hardly the end of the world. In the US, we have freedom of speech. The UK used to have it, but doesn't any more. They have replaced freedom of speech with an overabundance of political correctness that limits th rights of all people to have ideas and speak their minds. They want to ban him. I've seen comments that people want to jail him. For what? An opinion? He has taken no action. He can't. He's not president yet. His idea has not been legally reviewed (at least officially).

HZR | 8 years ago | Reply And yet they deny the right of a few non Muslims to worship and offer their prayers inside their home but pass judgements on others.

MSH | 8 years ago | Reply The Credit goes to Europe for admitting thousands of immigrants and not to GCC which has not even a single immigrant.The GCC should thank the European Countries for this gesture.

JD | 8 years ago | Reply Well lets see what you do about it dear GCC. Scotland has about 400,000 people signing a petition to ban his entry. You just need a wave of your hand.

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