Over 200 Women Leaders Condemn Death Threat Targeting Congressional Candidate Amani Al-Khatahtbeh
Over 200 Women Leaders Condemn Death Threat Targeting Congressional Candidate Amani Al-Khatahtbeh
NEW JERSEY — A coalition of women’s leaders, activists and representatives have signed onto an open letter condemning the Islamophobic death threat targeting congressional candidate Amani Al-Khatahtbeh (NJ-6).
Following a virtual town hall last week, Al-Khatahtbeh received a phone call from an unknown phone number laced with anti-Muslim rhetoric threatening to kill her and her family. The caller not only had Al-Khatahtbeh’s personal cell phone number but also her family’s home address.
The caller said in part: “Your parents live at [address redacted]. I will f**king kill them and. . .I will torture them and feed them bacon and f**king pork…As soon as you get off the phone, I’ll f**king go to his house…“Ni**er, you’re Muslim, you f**king ugly Arab Muslim. You terrorist.”
Al-Khatahtbeh posted the audio to Twitter on Wednesday. The Council of American Islamic Relations called upon the FBI to open a probe into the death threat.
“[Al-Khatahtbeh] is 27 years old and running to be a public servant …Yet, because she is a Muslim woman, she is faced with Islamophobic and racist vitriol that threatens her life,” the open letter says. “We condemn this event and firmly resolve to stand with Amani…Under a Trump presidency that continues to enforce a Muslim Ban and enacts daily attacks on Muslim women, we know there is no space for silence.”
The open letter has been signed by over 200 women’s leaders, including Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Black Lives Matter cofounder Alicia Garza, Jewish Voice for Peace former executive director Rebecca Vilkomerson, and Bernie Sanders’ former senior advisor Winnie Wong.
Al-Khatahtbeh is the first Muslim woman in U.S. history to run for Congress in New Jersey. She announced her entirely digital campaign on April 4 in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak that has impacted her state with the second-highest number of cases in the country, second only to New York.
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BACKGROUND:
Amani is the founder of MuslimGirl.com, the most influential online platform for Muslim women’s voices in Western society, and the global #MuslimWomensDay campaign. Amani became the first veiled Muslim woman to land on the Forbes’ 30 Under 30 media list and was named one of CNN’s 25 most influential American Muslims at the age of 25.
