Michigan Islamic community mourns loss of MSU fellow killed in Gaza airstrike
EAST LANSING, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - The conflict in the Middle East is being felt throughout Michigan.
The Islamic community in East Lansing is mourning after Tariq Thabet, a fellow at Michigan State University, and his family were killed in Gaza.
"For a person coming from a territory which is effectively under siege by Israel, he had a very positive and upbeat attitude to life," said Thasin Sardar, a member of the board of trustees at the Islamic Center of East Lansing. "He came here with a mission to learn, and he was trying to make use of his time very effectively and give back to his country."
Thabet was a member of the East Lansing community until last year while he was studying at MSU as a Fulbright Scholar as part of the Humphrey Fellowship program. Sardar says 16 members of Thabet's family were killed this week.
"Multiple generations of the Thabet family have died in this attack. There were 16 people of his extended family that have died overall. So that includes his father, perhaps. Who knows? Maybe his grandfather," Sardar said. "There are 16 names that we know of from the Talbot family. So these bombs are wiping off entire generations altogether."
Members of the Islamic Center prayed for Thabet and his family, but Sardar said he would like to see support from the community as well.
"We can honor the legacy of his life by calling our congressmen and senators and ask them to demand for an immediate cease-fire," he said. "We need to end this killing right now. So we all should be collectively demanding for a cease-fire right now."
