Khaberni - "Choosing between dogs and Muslims is not difficult," with these words US Congressman Randy Fine, from the Republican Party, sparked a wide wave of anger and interaction on social media platforms in America and the Arab and Islamic world.
The representative for Florida, in a post on his "X" platform account yesterday Monday, stated, "If we are forced to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not difficult."
The Florida congressman's post was in response to a post by American activist of Palestinian descent, Nerdeen Kiswani, in which she talked about keeping dogs as pets in New York City homes and described dogs as "impure," considering that "they should not be kept as pets inside homes," under the claim that keeping them indoors is contrary to Islamic law.
Later, Kiswani said that her post was meant as a joke, but the controversy quickly escalated on social media, with supporters defending Fine, and opponents describing his statements as dehumanizing.
In response to Fine's post, Kiswani wrote: "No one asked Randy to get rid of his dogs, but he and Laura and other fanatical Zionists concocted this entire story about (my calling for a ban on dogs) as a pretext to spread hate speech against Muslims. They routinely do this with Palestinians like me."
Fine's post garnered more than 30 million interactions on social media, amid wide controversy and sharp criticism from politicians, diplomats, and activists who considered his statements offensive and inciting, with calls for his resignation.
The angry reactions continued from politicians and activists, with activists considering what he said to be part of a "recurring pattern of statements insulting to Muslims" issued by some Republicans in Congress, who, according to them, do not face clear condemnation or accountability from their colleagues.
Others considered that Fine "is still a member of the US Congress, yet he promotes hatred and bigotry through the X platform."
Meanwhile, Robert Garcia, a Congressman from California, described Fine's post on the X platform as "disgusting Islamophobia and dangerous bigotry," calling for the Speaker of the House Mike Johnson to strip him of his committee memberships, and even calling for his resignation, expressing hope that "those who elected him feel disgusted by his words and actions."
An activist wrote: "Imagine if an American politician said this about Jews," referring to the sensitivity of speech related to religious minorities in the United States.
Conversely, bloggers noted that Fine justified his statements in the context of responding to Kiswani's tweet, where he wrote in a subsequent comment: "To clarify the context, this is the leader of one of the main Islamic groups that supported Memdani," in an attempt, according to observers, to explain the motives of his post.
Others saw the incident as reflecting a "widespread campaign of incitement against Muslims in the United States," especially in light of what they described as "the successes achieved by Muslim candidates in recent elections."
Activists questioned the appropriateness of such statements coming from a member of Congress, saying: "Is it appropriate for an elected representative to compare a religious group of American citizens to animals? And do American Muslims have the same constitutional protections as other citizens?"
Bloggers also noted that "if such words were said about Jews, there would be immediate official condemnations and accusations of anti-Semitism," affirming that elected officials "are supposed to represent all citizens, not to classify humans based on their religious beliefs."
It is worth noting that this was not the first time Fine has sparked controversy with racist statements against Muslims and Palestinians in particular, as he has previously called for a "travel ban on Muslims" and demanded the "full deportation of both regular and irregular Muslim immigrants."
