CAIRO – US Democratic presidential front-runner Hilary Clinton lambasted the “dangerous” rhetoric of Republican counterpart Donald Trump in an event on Monday night, seeing it as a direct reason behind the rise of Islamophobia in the country.
“One of the most distressing aspects of this campaign has been the language of Republican candidates, particularly their front-runner that insults, demeans, denigrates different people,” Clinton said during a CNN town-hall Iowa event, Business Insider reported on Tuesday, January 26.
“He has cast a wide net — he started with Mexicans. Now it’s Muslims.”
Clinton was responding to a question from a Muslim-American woman and Air Force veteran who asked how Clinton would make the US safe for Muslim children, considering the sharp rise of Islamophobia.
Attacking Trump, she called his rhetoric “dangerous” to the US.
“But I found it particularly harmful the way that he has talked about Muslims — American Muslims, and Muslims around the world,” she said.
“And I have called him out continuously on that. It’s not only shameful and contrary to our values to say that people of a certain religion should not come to this country, or to claim that there are no real people of the Muslim faith that share our values, and to have the kind of dismissive and insulting approach. It’s not only shameful and offensive, which it is. I think it’s dangerous.”
Muslims make up 1% of America’s 322 million population, according to Pew Research center.
Anti-Muslim sentiments have reached an all-time high after the rise of the so-called Islamic State, formerly known as Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
Moreover, the Republican presidential candidates, such as Donald Trump and Dr. Ben Carson, have added to increasing anti-Muslim sentiments.
Trump’s views on immigration have sparked controversy nationwide, especially his proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the US.
Two weeks ago, his campaign officials removed a Muslim woman silently protesting at a Trump rally, prompting the Council on American-Islamic Relations to demand an apology from the campaign.