President Obama continued a message of tolerance toward Muslim-Americans Saturday.
“Across the country, Americans are reaching out, to their Muslim friends, neighbors, and co-workers, to let them know we’re here for each other,” Obama said in his weekly presidential address. “I think of the woman in Texas carrying a sign that says, ‘We love our Muslim neighbors.'”
“Terrorists like ISIL are trying to divide us, along lines of religion, and background,” Obama said. “That’s how they recruit.”
“Prejudice and discrimination helps ISIL, and it undermines our national security,” Obama said.
Obama’s comments come off an intense week of continued fallout from the San Bernardino and Paris attacks, and a proposal from Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump to temporarily bar all Muslim entry into the United States.
“Just as Muslims around the world have to keep rejecting any twisted interpretation of Islam, all of us have to reject bigotry in all of its forms,” Obama said.
