President Obama said Friday that the proposal to deport Muslims who support Shariah law is “repugnant,” taking aim at an idea that Donald Trump surrogate Newt Gingrich put forward this week after the latest terror attack in France.
“The very suggestion” that all Muslims be “deported or jailed… is repugnant and affront to everything we stand for as Americans,” Obama said, repeating his total opposition to such ideas.
“We should never do their work for them,” he said.
Gingrich responded over Twitter by saying Obama has no plan at all to take out the Islamic State.
Obama’s attack on me would be more impressive if he had ANY plan to defeat Islamic supremacist.8 years of failure disqualify him as a critic
— Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) July 15, 2016
I challenge President Obama to share with us a serious plan to screen out terrorists from the Syrian refugees.he is risking American lives
— Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) July 15, 2016
Obama called Thursday’s terrorist attack in Nice, France a “sickening act” as he addressed a group of foreign diplomats at the White House on Friday.
Obama said it was a “tragic and appalling attack on the freedom and the peace that we cherish. Today our hearts are with the people of France and all the innocent men, women and so many children” killed and injured Thursday.
“These networks and these individuals are an affront to all of our humanity,” he said. “We will not be deterred. We will not relent” on the fight against the self-proclaimed Islamic State, Obama pledged.
Obama said he told French President Francois Hollande that “France is America’s oldest ally… we owe our freedom to each other.” Obama said he pledged to help France fight this “scourge of terrorism and violence.”
Obama said terrorists such as Thursday’s Tunisian-born attacker don’t care who they kill — they attack innocents from all walks of life and all faiths. “This is a threat to all of us,” he said.
He encouraged diplomats in the room to help fight extremist propaganda and work together to take down this “vile terrorist organization.”
“We will win this fight by building” and pushing back “against hateful ideologies.” Democracies have to offer Syrians and others trapped by ISIS a better way, Obama said.
