Trump retweets inflammatory & unverified anti-Muslim videos; CAIR condemns

NEW YORK, Nov 29 (APP):US President Trump retweeted several videos Wednesday allegedly depicting physical attacks conducted by Muslims that were posted by a British far-right political organization, according to American media reports.
The footage was posted by Jayda Fransen, deputy leader of Britain First, a party which opposes immigration.
The re-tweets were part of a series of tweets in which Trump again described CNN as “Fake News” and insisted the US economy was in “record territory.”
While critics accused President Trump of attempting to stir up anti-Muslim sentiment by retweeting the unverified videos, White House officials said he was underscoring the issue of violence by Muslim migrants in Europe.
“These are real threats we have to talk about,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said, dismissing questions about the veracity of the videos after reports that one perpetrator is not a Muslim. “Whether it is a real video, the threat is real.”
Jayda Fransen posted the videos, with the captions: “VIDEO: Islamist mob pushes teenage boy off roof and beats him to death!”; “VIDEO: Muslim Destroys a Statue of Virgin Mary!”; “VIDEO: Muslim migrant beats up Dutch boy on crutches!”
Trump did not provide a reason or additional commentary on the videos, though the president has previously criticized immigration policies in Europe and backed a travel ban to the United States from six Muslim-majority nations. Trump’s travel ban is currently the subject of federal lawsuits from plaintiffs who say Trump is seeking to constrain immigration from Muslims, rather than terror-prone countries.
Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a prominent Muslim advocacy group, said Trump’s “unconscionable and irresponsible” tweets “amount to incitement to violence against American Muslims. His actions should be condemned by all American political and religious leaders, regardless of their party or faith.”
Award issued the statement after Trump retweeted Islamophobic videos from the anti-Muslim British political leader who has been charged in the United Kingdom with ‘religious aggravated harassment.’
Britain First is a far-right, anti-Muslim political organization that was formed in 2011.
In September, its leader Paul Golding, 35, and deputy Fransen, 31, were charged with causing religiously aggravated harassment after distributing leaflets and posting videos on social media during the gang rape trial of three Muslim men and a teenager who were later convicted of rape and imprisoned.
While there are some British news reports that Golding stepped down from the organization for family reasons, his Twitter account still describes him as the group’s leader.
Golding saluted Trump’s retweets of Fransen’s videos, saying in all capital letters: “DONALD TRUMP HIMSELF HAS RETWEETED THESE VIDEOS AND HAS AROUND 44 MILLION FOLLOWERS! GOD BLESS YOU TRUMP!”