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Muslim Americans Against Hamas
(Wall Street Journal) Zainab Khan - With a group of fellow Muslims, I established the Muslim American Leadership Alliance in 2015 to celebrate Muslim American heritage and promote individual freedom and diversity. For years we've been successful. Last week, however, our progress came to a standstill as Muslim leaders failed to respond adequately to Hamas' massacre in Israel. American Muslims should have followed President Biden's lead by denouncing the terror group's attacks as an affront to the sanctity of human life, according to our faith. The U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations refused to condemn Hamas. The only two Muslim women in Congress, Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, were so equivocal about Hamas and hostile toward Israel that the White House press secretary felt compelled to call their comments "repugnant." When my organization posted on Instagram expressing solidarity with our Jewish and Israeli friends, the post received few likes, and most people who commented expressed solidarity with Palestinians. A few things led Muslims to fail in this critical moment. The first was an irrational ideological fixation on Zionism, which has no effect on most Muslims. The second was an activist-fueled dehumanization of Israelis. Americans are horrified by Hamas and see many Muslims respond either by saying nothing or by blaming Jews for the rape, beheading and kidnapping of their people. In a single weekend, extremists have taken our identity hostage, tarnished our reputations and endangered our families. It will take years to restore our good name.