When a Palestinian activist posted a comment about dogs on social media, Texas Representative Keith Self (R-TX) responded with a bill in Congress.
It started when Nerdeen Kiswani, a Palestinian activist based in New York City, posted on X suggesting that dogs should not be kept as indoor pets, citing Islamic beliefs that consider dogs unclean.
"Like we've said all along, they are unclean," Kiswani wrote.
The post spread quickly and drew significant criticism from social media users. The Daily Mail reported Kiswani later said the post was a joke tied to an ongoing conversation in New York City about dog waste left on snowy sidewalks.
"I don't care if you have a dog," she clarified, adding that she was reacting to a lighthearted local debate rather than making a serious policy argument. However, the explanation did little to slow the political response.
Self issued a response, writing on social media, "You will not take away our dogs. You will not take away our individual liberties. And you will certainly not impose any form of Sharia on the American people.”
Many Muslims avoid keeping dogs as indoor pets for religious reasons, and practices vary widely across different communities.
Measure Introduced
After the response, Representative Randy Fine (R-FL) announced the "Protecting Puppies from Sharia Act," a bill that would cut off federal funding to any state or local government that declares dogs "haram," meaning forbidden under Islamic law.
Critics of the bill argue it is a significant overreaction to a post that its own author called a joke, and point out that no law restricting dog ownership has ever been seriously proposed anywhere in the United States.
“Democrats are losing their minds because I made a simple statement—given a choice between our dogs and those who would ban them, the choice is easy,” Fine later shared on X.
Self quickly signed on as a cosponsor.
"In America, we cherish dogs—loyal companions, beloved family, and yes, true gifts from God," Self wrote on X. "Any foreign ideology that tries to strip Americans of our right to own dogs is not welcome here."
The bill has not yet been brought to a formal vote.
