South Carolina State Sen. Michael Fair (R) doesn’t quite seem to know what his proposed sharia ban bill has to do with terrorism, but he does know that “ninety nine percent probably, of the acts of terrorism around the world” have “occurred at the hands of Middle Eastern men who happen to be advocates of the Islam religion.”
Fair was speaking with ThinkProgress, and said:
Most, and when I say most, ninety nine percent probably, of the acts of terrorism around the world since, at least since the killing of the two hundred plus Marines in Lebanon, by that car bomb or whatever it was, have occurred, all these acts of terrorism, have occurred at the hands of Middle Eastern men who happen to be advocates of the Islam religion.
Fair was probably referring to a 1983 truck bombing in Beirut, Lebanon, which killed over 200 American and French servicemen. The group Islamic Jihad took credit for the bombing.
But Fair seemed to stumble when explaining what this has to do with his legislation to ban sharia law in South Carolina: “There have been 25 or 30 very noteworthy acts of terrorism around the world, and they’ve all been at the hands of Middle Eastern men,” he said. “So when sharia pops up in Michigan, there seems to be certain things that are funded by the public that have to do with the practice of the religion. And this is not in any sense associated with terrorism.”
He later added that the bill would simply be an “exclamation point” behind existing law. “In case you need reminding, foreign law doesn’t prevail over South Carolina law,” he said.
Here’s video:
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