Since the start of the war in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian movement Hamas, the United States and in particular New York and its region, in the northeast of the country, have been shaken by a number of demonstrations, community tensions and some sporadic violence. .
The Democratic governor of the state of New Jersey Phil Murphy, where hundreds of thousands of Muslims and Jews reside, “assured the Muslim community and the faithful of all beliefs that everything would be done for their security. after the shooting death of an imam on Wednesday outside a mosque in Newark, near New York.
Those responsible for the investigation into the death of Hassan Sharif, a local figure in Newark who was also a security guard at Newark International Airport, have ruled out a priori a racist crime as well as the possibility of “terrorism” in allusion to racist killings by white supremacists.
“We do not yet know the motive for this crime (but) the evidence gathered so far does not indicate an act motivated by prejudice or domestic terrorism”declared during a press briefing the Attorney General of the State of New Jersey (equivalent to local Minister of Justice, editor’s note), Matthew Platkin.
In Newark, an industrial and multicultural city west of Manhattan, on the other side of the Hudson River. Hassan Sharif was hit by several bullets fired in the street at dawn on Wednesday, he died in the afternoon in hospital.
The New Jersey branch of the American Muslim advocacy group, Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair), organized a rally at the Newark mosque to “demand that the shooter(s) against Hassan Sharif surrender” to the authorities. The group has “Advised all mosques to keep their doors open but to remain cautious given the recent rise in intolerance and bigotry against Muslims.”
Since the start of the war in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian movement Hamas, the United States and in particular New York and its region, in the northeast of the country, have been shaken by a number of demonstrations, community tensions and some sporadic violence. .
New York City alone, populated by 8.5 million people, has nearly two million Jewish Americans, the second largest population after Israel, and hundreds of thousands of Muslims.