Bigoted neighbor complains about Arabic sign on NJ home

In a disgusting display of true Islamophobia, anonymous residents around the Packanack Lake section of Wayne distributed a letter complaining about a sign in Arabic writing on a home in town, according to a Patch.com story and ABC 7 news report.

That the statement happens to praise God is apparently unimportant to these self -mportant neighbors, who have clearly adopted a “there goes the neighborhood” attitude toward their new neighbors.

Mahmoud Elsanaa and his family erected the Arabic sign on the Lake Drive West house, which they purchased and are renovating. The sign reads, "What God has willed. God bless."

The handwritten note has been distributed around the neighborhood in opposition to the sign. The letter claims that the sign "will affect all of us." The letter calls the house “un-American” even though the sign hangs next to an American flag flying on the house. Like the anti-Semites in Jackson and Toms River who accuse every house of being a synagogue, the anti-Islam neighbors of the Elsanaa family also claim the house is a mosque.

There are no zoning laws being violated and no laws being broken. Since there are no rules about signs being out on homes, these bigots are out of luck in their quest to cleanse the neighborhood of undesirables of Arab descent.

What if the sign said “Hate has no home here” or “Make America Normal Again?” Would these sentiments cause such a stir? The fact that the mere sight of Arabic letters on a home is so offensive to people despite the benign sentiment it espouses shows just how ignorant and hateful people can be.

My suggestion to the neighbors who are against Arabic writing on homes is this: move to another neighborhood and hope that only illiterate white people ever move in.

Bigoted neighbor complains about Arabic sign on NJ home (Opinion)