Jeb Bush: Sympathy for religious minorities in Middle East is not ‘un-American’

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Friday there is a “special duty” to deal with Christians being persecuted in the Middle East and said it was wrong to suggest that having sympathy for religious minorities in the region is “un-American.”

Mr. Bush. a 2016 GOP presidential candidate, applauded the U.S. House for passing a measure putting a “pause” on the Obama administration’s plans to resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees in the U.S. this year.

“I think we need to have a thorough vetting because of this threat, for sure,” he said Friday on Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria.” “I think it’s possible to do it, but we should err on the side of caution.”

“This has been made so much more complicated by the inaction of this administration that has been one of the big reasons why we have this refugee crisis altogether,” he said. “Four million people have been uprooted in Syria — 4 million out of 23 million. And I think we have a special duty to deal with Christians that are being persecuted as well.”

“We know who they are, you can see their birth certificates, you know their names,” Mr. Bush said. “These are people that are being attacked across the board. They can’t go to the refugee camps because if they go there it’s not safe for them.”

“This is a real challenge, and to suggest that somehow having some sympathy for religious minorities in the Middle East is un-American, as the president has basically said this last week, is just plain wrong,” he said.