Republican leaders in one of the most populous counties in Texas want to remove a party vice chairman because he’s Muslim, according to emails between party leaders.
The emails delivered anonymously to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram indicate the Tarrant County GOP executive committee plans to vote Jan. 10 on whether to remove Shahid Shafi from his leadership position.
Some in the party say Shafi, a surgeon and city council member in a Fort Worth suburb, may be more loyal to Islamic law or not supportive enough of the party’s pro-Israel platform.
Shafi counters that he supports American laws and the court system, and says he has no affiliation to “any terrorist organization,” as some have alleged. Shafi, who became a U.S. citizen in 2009 and shortly after joined the Republican Party, says he supports the Second Amendment and has never promoted Sharia, or Islamic, law.
He’s one of four GOP leaders in the county that some party members are trying to unseat. Another being targeted is a GOP precinct chairwoman who’s married to a Muslim.
The emails expressed alarm with party leaders after Democrat Beto O’Rourke won the county in his bid to unseat U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who ultimately won re-election. Tarrant County is the third most populous in Texas with more than 2 million residents, trailing only Harris and Dallas counties. O’Rourke’s showing was the first time in decades that a Democrat running for federal office has won the county.
One email by a Republican activist said, “We have become overly lax.”
Lisa Grimaldi Abdulkareem, the precinct chairwoman who’s married to a Muslim, told the Star-Telegram that it will be the downfall of the Republican Party if it “doesn’t stand up against those who want to discriminate against others.”
“Where does the discrimination end? I believe people need to speak up loudly and let the few know that this is not right and it won’t be tolerated,” she said.
(AP)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
4 Responses
The fake news version of this, prominently displayed here, is a story of religious discrimination. But there is a huge problem with that. There is no truth to it. Republicans do not care a whiff about which god someone chooses to worship. The matter at hand is that Islam is not a religion. It is an ideology. It is a political movement that has at its core the undermining of all other ways of life, all other religions, and legitimizes violence, terror, and murder as a way to achieve that. Dishonesty is a virtue in Islam.
A political party has a responsibility to promote its ideals. Someone that subscribes to the ideology of Islam cannot do that. Not a lot, not a little. Republicans seem to recognize this Muslim’s membership in the party as a way to undermine and sabotage their platforms. Their interest in ousting him is understandable.
The key issue is that this is NOT religious discrimination.
The fish rots from the head….in this case the self-anointed head of the Republican party and Hater-in Chief. Republicans have been down this road before and it ended badly…..First the Muslim, then the Jews then the “Never-Trumpers”,then (whose left???)
If you don’t personally consider islam a religion, in the world at large it is, so it is completely religious discrimination, just like the travel ban was.
That aside, in the article there’s nothing this man says or seems to represent that is contradictory to the Republican platform (how did he get a senior position?). Pure discrimination.
If they can do it to a Muslim they can do it to a Jew.