As an American Jew and a supporter of Israel for more than 65 years, I am appalled by President Trump’s ban on Muslims entering our country.

Has the president forgotten one of the saddest chapters in 20th-century American history: when our shores were closed to Jews seeking to flee Nazi Germany? How many suffered and died in concentration camps rather than being welcomed at Ellis Island?

Eight decades ago, it was Jews; now it’s Muslims. Today it’s Syrian President Bashar Assad, not Adolf Hitler. It’s refugee camps where people are dying of disease and starvation, not German death camps. What was wrong and inhumane then is just as wrong and inhumane now. Whether it’s Jews, Muslims or adherents of any other religion, America should be a compassionate nation willing to embrace those suffering from despotic regimes.

Experts say our country will be no safer under the president’s executive order and, in fact, we may be much more vulnerable to attack. Such decrees add fuel to the Islamic State campaign of hatred for Americans and their desire to destroy Western democracies. It reinforces their message that the United States is at war with Muslims. Until now there has never been, nor should there ever be, a national policy of discrimination against any religion. Our Constitution forbids it; our values deplore it.

Sadly, President Trump has sent a wrong-headed message to the world about the humanity of the American people. He has dimmed the torch of hope, freedom and religious tolerance that has served to welcome countless millions to our land for generations. We must not let it be extinguished.

Jerry Klepner

Harpswell