U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz is wrong when he points to Minneapolis as some kind of American-style Molenbeek, the Brussels neighborhood where a disaffected Muslim population has spawned two attacks that have shaken Europe.

The imams here are not "preaching jihadism." Instead, on Thursday they filled a room at the Hennepin County Public Safety Center along with top law enforcement officials and prosecutors from across the region and engaged in a thoughtful discussion. The imams and other members of the local Muslim community discussed their concerns, the need for cooperation, and the fear of hate crimes that might be triggered by the Brussels attack and by heated, divisive rhetoric from those who should know better.

The fact is, Islamic State militants are killing many more Muslims than Christians, with bombings that have taken hundreds of lives. Protection against such attacks should come on two levels. First, the U.S. should use every bit of leverage at its disposal to promote better intelligence-­gathering among European countries and a plan for acting on such intelligence. On March 1, weeks before Brussels, U.S. Gen. Philip Breedlove, the Supreme Allied Commander for Europe, testified before Congress that many countries "are saying they see planning happening for a terrorist attack."

Locally, despite those who would demagogue the issue, Americans must recognize that Muslims are threaded throughout our society. They are our police officers and soldiers, clerks and teachers. Some are American-born; others have fled the chaos sown by extremists whose values they do not share. Our Muslim neighbors want what most of us want: a home, a good job, an abundant future for their children. "No one is more interested in the safety of this community and this country than Muslims," Abdirashid Abdi, a board member at the Abubakar As-Saddique mosque in south Minneapolis, said at Thursday's meeting. "We want to make sure Minnesotans are safe, including the Muslim community."

One way to do that is for Somali-Americans to work with local law enforcement. That's not easy for a people who come from a culture of repressive authority. But Imam Mohammed Dukuly of Masjid al-Amsar mosque told the group, "There are many of us who will stand by you. You see a threat? Expose it. Islam as a religion does not condone what is happening."

U.S. Sen. Al Franken notes that the intelligence gathered about the Brussels bombers came from Muslims. "What we need most is for people to feel like they're part of the whole community," he said.

Although this is not Molenbeek, the Twin Cities has a special challenge of integration — one that surfaced in 2007 when a few young men left the Twin Cities to fight for the terror group Al-Shabab in Somalia and again in 2015, when the U.S. attorney's office charged 10 young Somali-American Twin Citians with plotting to join the Islamic State in Syria.

In response, pilot programs being developed in Minneapolis to provide better opportunities for Somali-American young people are badly needed.

This is not a battle of Muslims vs. Christians. Instead, those who believe in peace and understanding must create a unified front against those who choose violence and a twisted form of Islam that dishonors one of the world's great religions.