DUBAI: London Mayor Sadiq Khan has addressed a highly-criticized tweet by Donald Trump’s son which he posted in the aftermath of Wednesday’s terror attack in London.
Donald Trump Jr. tweeted a link to a September 2016 story published in the Independent, which quoted London’s mayor as saying terror attacks were “part and parcel of living in a big city.”
Trump Jr. tweeted: “You have to be kidding me?!” and then quoted the headline of the article “Terror attacks are part of living in big city, says London Mayor Sadiq Khan.”
You have to be kidding me?!: Terror attacks are part of living in big city, says London Mayor Sadiq Khan
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr)
The tweet garnered backlash in the UK, including by former president of the National Union of Students and current MP Wes Streeting.
“You use a terrorist attack on our city to attack London’s Mayor for your own political gain. You’re a disgrace,” Streeting tweeted.
For his part, Khan told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour Thursday that he was not going to respond to Donald Trump Jr’s tweet as he has “been doing far more important things over the past 24 hours.”
London Mayor Sadiq Khan: "I'm not going to respond to a tweet from Donald Trump Jr, I've been doing more important things over the past 24h"
— CNN (@CNN)
He added: “Terrorists hate the fact that… we have diverse communities living together peacefully.
“I’m not going to allow terrorists to divide London, to destroy our way of life.”