Belated Thoughts on The San Diego Mosque Shooting

I would be remiss if I did not put forward a comment concerning the shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego on Monday which claimed the lives three people who were employed by the institution.

For starters, violence targeting Muslims is every bit as abhorrent as it was with the Christchurch massacre in March 2019. I mention this attack as the two teenaged perpetrators were inspired in great part by this attack. Although the perpetrators were also anti-Semitic, racist, anti-LGBTQ, they focused their ire on Muslims.

While it must be said that the Imam of the Islamic Center of San Diego has justified the October 7th attacks it does not give anyone the right to murder anyone associated with this religious institution. 

It is possible to condemn the view of the Imam where it concerns Hamas without wishing grievous harm upon those who worship or work there. 

Indeed, it is well worth noting that a senior figure in New Zealand's Muslim community claimed, without evidence, that Israel was behind the Christchurch attack. As defamatory as this statement is, those who were killed in the attack still deserve our sympathy. As Rob Eshman pointed out in The Forward:

The teenagers who opened fire on the Islamic Center of San Diego didn’t care what the imam said about Gaza. They saw Muslims, and they wanted them dead — the same way the Pittsburgh and Poway shooters saw Jews. Our enemies are not making the distinctions we make about each other. Maybe it’s time we stopped making them too.

Let me put it another way. The Imam of the Islamic Center of San Diego might very well have delighted in the murder of Jews on October 7th and would wish grievous harm upon Jews in America. If this is the case, I still don't wish bloodshed to be visited upon the Imam or anyone else associated with the Islamic Center of San Diego or any other Muslim institution in this country.