Rep. Randy Fine said he will appear in a Florida courthouse next week to give a deposition in a criminal case involving death threats made against him and his family, an experience he said showcases what he views as a broader threat tied to Islam and religious extremism.
Fine said the deposition will take place Monday morning, replacing his usual travel schedule to Washington.
“Next Monday morning, instead of getting on my normal flight to fly to Washington, I’ll go to a courthouse in Florida where I’ll be deposed in a criminal case against a man who sent death threats to me and my family,” Fine said.
According to Fine, the threats were explicit and violent.
“Said, I know where you live. I’m coming to kill you. I’m going to kill your children in front of you,” he said.
Fine said the suspect is the third individual to send him such threats, and that the man was apprehended as he attempted to enter the United States.
“By the way, he’s the third such person to do so,” Fine said. “He sent me these threats while he was overseas, and he was arrested by customs on his way into the United States.”
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Fine said the threats stemmed from remarks he made comparing different religious expressions and public reactions to them.
“Why did he send these threats? Because I made a simple statement,” Fine said.
“If you hear someone yell, Praise Jesus, you typically will smile. If you hear someone say Baruch Hashem, which I may do. You may not know what it means, but you’re not going to be afraid. But if someone in this room yelled Allahu Akbar right now, we’d all be looking for a place to hide.”
Fine said the accused individual justified the threats by citing religious beliefs.
“Now, this gentleman’s excuse, his defense will be in my faith I have the right to go after the infidel,” Fine said.
Fine argued that such beliefs are not isolated incidents and pointed to other cases he said illustrate the issue.
He referenced an incident in Texas involving vandalism of a church.
“Now, for those of you who think that’s crazy, we’ve seen this before in Texas, some Muslim children vandalized a church,” Fine said.
“They sprayed messages on a church, and the civil rights group that supposedly represents mainstream Muslims in Texas says they have the right to do that under the First Amendment because they were practicing their religion.”
Fine urged fellow lawmakers not to downplay the issue or limit criticism to extremist factions.
“If I could say one thing to my colleagues, we need to not be afraid,” Fine said.
“We have to stop the term of radical Islam, Islamist. It is mainstream Islam. We have gotten this wrong.”
Fine added, “The radicals are the ones who don’t want to kill us. It is the mainstream that does.”
He also cited developments in Europe as a warning, pointing to France as an example.
“And if anyone is concerned about this, look at what I now call the United Islamic kingdom and Francis Stan in France, they had to cancel New Year’s Eve celebrations because they were worried about attacks in the United Islamic kingdom,” Fine said.
He said French lawmakers are now debating cultural changes he described as incompatible with Western norms.
“They’re now debating in Parliament whether cousin marriage should be legal,” Fine said.
Fine noted that dozens of countries already operate under Islamic law and said the United States must not join them.
“There are 57 countries in the world that you can live if you want to live under Sharia,” Fine said.
“Working with my colleagues, we’re going to make this sure this one is not number 58.”
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