New Jersey’s Muslim community has been the target of an increasing number of bias incidents. More than 100 cases of anti-Muslim discrimination last year were tracked by the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR).
In recent weeks, four Islamic centers in the state have been visited by trucks carrying anti-Muslim messages. Video footage provided by the council shows the truck displaying a digital billboard with images of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. One of the incidents happened at the Muslim Center of Middlesex County. The Council’s New Jersey chapter is calling on local Piscataway law enforcement and the FBI to investigate. Selaeddin Maxut, the group’s executive director, said that “while everyone — even fanatics — has the right to free speech, no one has the right to attack religious minorities, especially in their houses of worship, with acts of perceived intimidation and harassment.”
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