Politics

Muslim Group Asks Snyder to Condemn Agema's 'Camel Jockey' Post

October 25, 2014, 3:34 AM

The GOP in Michigan doesn't endear itself to the Arab-American electorate with comments like this.

Mark Hicks of The Detroit News reports that the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim advocacy group, is calling on Gov. Rick Snyder to condemn an Oct. 19  comment on Facebook by Michigan Republican National Committee member Dave Agema, who referred to people of Middle East ancestry as “camel jockeys.”

The Facebook post responds to an article on gopthedailydose.com about Islamic extremists overseas allegedly training in captured fighter jets with Iraqi defector pilots, The Detroit News writes.

Agema's comment, now deleted, said:

“I wouldn’t be too concerned over this. American or Isrseli [sic] fighter pilots could take all of these out in a single day.  We had a saying in the Air Force that camel jockeys don’t make good fighter pilots and the Israelis proved this to be accurate.”

CAIR’s Michigan chapter says it sent a letter to Snyder Friday asking him to denounce Agema, according to The News.

“Gov. Snyder alludes to openness in the state and being pro-immigrant . . . but he also needs to call out xenophobes and bigots within his own party,” Dawud Walid, executive director of CAIR’s Michigan chapter, tells the paper.

Snyder's spokeswoman Sara Wurfel said Friday that the governor has “been incredibly clear on his position about discrimination being wrong, period, and denouncing this kind of language, and that there’s no place for it in any political party, as well as calling for civility.”

Agema told the News that his  comments were misconstrued and the term “camel jockeys” referred  to foreign fighter pilots who were not as well-trained as Americans or Israelis.

This isn't the first time that Agema has embarrassed the GOP.

In January, The Detroit News reported Betsy DeVos, a former head of the state Republican Party, called for him to resign after insulting comments about Muslims and homosexuals. Others in the party echoed those feelings.


Read more:  The Detroit News


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