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NEW DELHI: Real estate mogul and Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump defended his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States, saying that the measure was akin to World War Two detainment of Japanese-Americans and others.
Trump has faced mounting criticism for his comments on Monday, as he called for blocking Muslims, including immigrants, students, tourists and other visitors, from entering the country following last week's California shooting spree that involved two Muslims who authorities say were radicalised.
The White House called on Republicans to say that they will not be supporting Trump, with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson adding that Trump’s flagrant comments will undermine U.S. security.
Other world leaders joined in denouncing the comments, including prime ministers of France and the United Kingdom, Canada's foreign minister, the United Nations as well as a host of West Asian countries.
Trump, however, defended himself of Tuesday, saying that his ideas were no worse than those of then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who oversaw the internment of more than 110,000 people in U.S. government camps after Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. "What I'm doing is no different than FDR," Trump said on ABC's "Good Morning America" program. "We have no choice but to do this," he said. "We have people that want to blow up our buildings, our cities. We have to figure out what's going on."
On ABC’s “World News Tonight” Trump said that the ban would be "short term,” adding that it could be lifted "very quickly if our country could get its act together."
Trump is known for his controversial comments, with several remarks directed at the Muslim community in the US and across the world.
However, across the pond Trump has a very different attitude toward Muslims. Trump has business interests in a number of Muslim majority countries, including the UAE and Turkey.
Damac properties in Dubai for instance has a Trump Organization-managed golf club, which will sit within Damac's 42 million square foot development "Akoya" and house a 30,000 square foot club house - the largest in Dubai. Al Jazeera quoted Damac Properties Senior Vice President Niall McLoughlin in a statement seen by the media outlet, saying, “We would like to stress that our agreement is with the Trump Organization as one of the premium golf course operators in the world and as such we would not comment further on Mr Trump's personal or political agenda, nor comment on the internal American political debate scene.”
Another example is the Trump Towers in Turkey, where business continued as usual.
In May, in an interview with Hotelier Middle East, Trump's daughter and executive in the family business, Ivanka, said that the company was eyeing Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Saudi Arabia as further opportunities to exploit.
Al Jazeera quotes Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American Relations (CAIR) saying, “He [Trump] is more than happy to make money off Muslims, at the same time attacking them in the most vicious way possible.”
The most effective blow to Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric is not going to come from the White House or world leaders, but from businesses. Thomas Roulet, senior lecturer in management at King's College London, told Al Jazeera that businesses had a "moral obligation" to respond to Trump's rhetoric, which some have called "fascist".
