Pleas, Protests as Islam Hearings Loom

The White House is calling on Americans not to stigmatize all followers of Islam, as Congress readies hearings on al-Qaeda’s attempts to radicalize US Muslims. In the US, "we don’t practice guilt by association," a top national security official said yesterday in what Politico calls a "public plea" at a Virginia mosque. "We must resolve that, in our determination to protect our nation, we will not stigmatize or demonize entire communities because of the actions of a few."

Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough later deflected questioning as to whether the speech was a response to the hearings, set to begin Thursday. When pressed, he added, "“We welcome congressional involvement in the issue. It’s a very important issue." Meanwhile, opponents of the hearings staged 500-person-strong protest in Times Square, notes the New York Times. “To single out Muslim-Americans as the source of homegrown terrorism and not examine all forms of violence motivated by extremist belief—that, my friends, is an injustice,” said a rabbi who was among the event’s speakers. (More Islam stories.)