Leading Muslim civil rights organization condemns NC Congressman for Islamophobic tweet

North Carolina Congressman Greg Murphy (R-NC) is drawing criticism for invoking the 9/11 terror attacks in a weekend tweet targeting Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN).

The incident happened over the weekend when Rep. Omar took to social media to offer condolences following the death of a Capitol Police officer, who was killed  when a driver rammed a vehicle into a barricade outside the Capitol on Friday.

Rep. Omar tweeted: “Heartbroken to learn another CP was killed while protecting the Capitol. My thoughts and prayers go out to the officer’s family and the entire Capitol Police force. The death toll would have been worse if the assailant had an AR-15 instead of a knife.”

Murphy, who represents North Carolina’s third congressional district, responded: “Would have been worse @Ilhan if they had been flying planes into the buildings also.”

Rep. Murphy has since deleted his tweet, which can be seen in the screen grab below.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called Rep. Murphy’s response bigoted and Islamophobic.

Here’s the full statement from CAIR Director of Government Affairs Department Robert S. McCaw:

“CAIR strongly condemns Representative Murphy for invoking the September 11th terror attacks while insulting a member of Congress who is Muslim. It is disrespectful to the victims of the 9/11 attacks, to their families and to the countless Muslim and other minority hate crime victims who were targeted in the wake of 9/11. His bigoted comments only serve to perpetuate the climate of hate that we are witnessing nationwide.

“One may disagree with a colleague without resorting to racism, Islamophobia or any other form of bigotry. We hope Representative Murphy’s Republican colleagues will condemn this Islamophobic attack and not just look the other way as they did when Muslim members of Congress were attack similarly in the past.”

CAIR is the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization with a mission to enhance the understanding of Islam and empower American Muslims.