“It speaks of the broader problem that our country always has to fight against and that is ignorance, hatred and xenophobia,” said Rabbi Victor Urecki, longtime rabbi and spiritual leader with the B’nai Jacob Synagogue in Charleston.
“He is speaking to a group of people — and it’s a small group of people, but they’re very vocal — that find the stranger is a person to be hated. That’s not the America that I grew up in.”
Urecki was a guest on Tuesday’s MetroNews “Talkline” a day after attending a community meeting involving Muslim, Christian and Jewish leaders at the Islamic Center of West Virginia, located in Kanawha County, that was organized to dispel myths about Islam.
Hundreds of people attended the Monday night event.
“The Muslim community has been speaking out. Unfortunately, they do not have a lot of traction in the media because it’s a softer voice, but they do speak out,” Urecki said of efforts to push back against anti-Muslim rhetoric that has intensified in the wake of the San Bernardino, California terrorist attack that left 14 people dead and more than 20 injured.
On Monday, FBI investigators confirmed Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, the two shooters who opened fire last Wednesday at San Bernardino’s Inland Regional Center, had been radicalized “for quite some time” and were possibly ISIS sympathizers.
Urecki said he understands very well that the U.S. has its enemies.
“There are people that are an enemy, not just to the American way of life, but immigrants which include Muslims who want to be part of the American experience,” he said.
However, “The overwhelming number of Muslims are not here to damage this country.”
As a Jew, Urecki said he’s bothered by the statements now being made about Muslims. “The same statements that are being said about Muslims were being said about Jews in America in the 1930s,” he said.
Urecki was born in Argentina and moved to the U.S. in 1965.
His father grew up in Argentina, one of the few sanctuary countries for Jewish people fleeing from Poland in 1938. At that time, the United States was not an option. Urecki sees parallels to what Syrian refugees seeking refuge are now facing.
Trump has called for the ban on Muslims entering the U.S. until, “our country’s representatives can figure out what’s going on,” according to a campaign statement. He’d previously proposed surveillance at mosques and the creation of a database of Muslims living in the U.S.
