California mosques receive letters promising genocide, praising Trump

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has called for increased police protection on mosques in California, after identical poison-pen letters were posted to three separate mosques on Wednesday.

The letters, which were reportedly sent from Santa Clarita, California, contain ominous warnings of genocide and praise president-elect Donald Trump.

“He’s [Trump] going to do to you Muslims what Hitler did to the jews [sic],” the letter reads.

The letters were sent to the Evergreen Islamic Centre in San Jose, the Long Beach Islamic Centre and the Islamic Centre of Claremont.

CAIR published the “anti-Muslim, hate-filled letter supporting President-elect Donald Trump” on their Facebook page on Saturday, along with a statement.

“This hate campaign targeting California houses of worship must be investigated as an act of religious intimidation, and our state’s leaders should speak out against the growing anti-Muslim bigotry that leads to such incidents,” said CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush.

Members of the local community have been contacting the mosques with messages of support all day.

“This is a direct written threat written by somebody and it’s not protected speech,” said Santa Clara county supervisor, Dave Cortese.

“It’s definitely hate speech and I think it rises to the level of a hate crime.”

The letters contain strong, vitriolic language against Muslims, describing them as a “vile and filthy people,” before describing the president-elect in heroic language.

“There’s a new sherriff [sic] in town — President Donald Trump,” the letter says.

“He’s going to cleanse America and make it shine again. And, he’s going to start with you Muslims.”

The letter, signed only by “Americans for a Better Way”, closes with the statement “Long live President Trump and God bless the USA!!”

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Islamophobic hate-crime has risen sharply since Donald Trump won the United States presidential elections earlier this month.

CAIR has recorded over 100 Islamophobic incidents across the US since the elections and reports that FBI statistics indicate a 67 percent jump in hate.