The San Francisco Bay Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SFBA) today condemned Islamophobic rhetoric by San Jose City Council members related to Mayor Sam Liccardo’s planned trip to Qatar. CAIR-SFBA also called for a meeting with City Council members to offer education on Islam.
Mayor Liccardo’s plans to travel to the Qatari capital of Doha were rejected by the City Council through a 8-3 vote over alleged human rights concerns. The mayor was reportedly invited by authorities in Doha to attend Qatar Foundation’s Environment and Energy Research Institute from 11-13 June to learn about the institute’s water conservation efforts.
Some council members reportedly cited Islam’s legal code, the shariah, in their arguments against the mayor’s trip. One council member reportedly said she would be scared to go to Qatar as a woman. The mayor reportedly said there were elements of Islamic law in Qatar’s legal system indicating the state is unjust.
The city council has previously approved visits to Israel as well as Saudi Arabia, despite human rights allegations from numerous organizations.
SEE: San Jose council stops mayor’s plans to travel to Qatar
San Jose council’s ban on mayor’s Qatar trip ‘Islamophobic’
In a statement, CAIR-SFBA Executive Director Zahra Billoo said:
“The Islamophobic rhetoric employed by San Jose officials is completely unacceptable. The arguments used against the Mayor’s trip to Qatar contain some of the oldest anti-Muslim tropes in the book, and the fact that the city council claimed to be concerned over human rights abuses while approving visits to serial human rights abusers Israel and Saudi Arabia is deeply hypocritical.
“We call on city council members and Mayor Liccardo to meet with representatives of our organization and the Muslim community for dialogue and education on Islam and to correct some of the misunderstandings apparent from this incident.”