Anti-Muslim Incidents In U.S. Break Records: Report | EUROtoday

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights group, acquired extra complaints of anti-Muslim incidents in 2023 than it has in every other yr because it started recording circumstances 30 years in the past.

The group acquired 8,061 complaints nationwide, in line with a report printed Tuesday, “Fatal: The Resurgence of Anti-Muslim Hate.” CAIR documented 5,156 complaints in 2022 and 6,720 in 2021, which was the earlier document.

CAIR data quite a lot of incidents, together with hate crimes and employment and schooling discrimination.

Nearly half of the 2023 complaints ― 3,578 ― have been reported within the final three months of the yr, which the report notes factors to the warfare in Gaza as the first driver behind the dramatic enhance in anti-Muslim sentiment. After Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing roughly 1,200 folks and taking 250 hostages, Israeli forces launched a full-scale assault within the Gaza Strip, killing practically 33,000 Palestinians thus far, in line with the Health Ministry in Gaza.

Since then, Muslim and Palestinian Americans have confronted extreme backlash. In Vermont, three Palestinian college students have been shot whereas on a strollan incident the state’s legal professional in Burlington known as “a hateful act.” In Illinois, a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy was stabbed to dying and his mom was hospitalized in a hate crime by their landlord, who was angered over the Israel-Hamas warfare. In February, a passerby tried to tear away a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf hanging out of a automotive window and stabbed a Palestinian American man.

The wave of Islamophobia that has taken place since Oct. 7 is even higher than the one the U.S. noticed after then-President Donald Trump applied his Muslim journey ban in 2017.

The report notes that anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian racism isn’t synonymous with Islamophobia however says that “Muslim and Arab identities have long been conflated, particularly by those who seek to villainize both, making anti-Muslim hate part and parcel of anti-Arab, and specifically, anti-Palestinian racism.”

After the warfare started in October, employment discrimination, hate crimes and schooling discrimination have been the three highest classes of Islamophobia, making up 44% of the overall complaints acquired. In 2023, CAIR recorded 607 studies of hate incidents, up from 117 in 2022.

Activists, college students and on a regular basis folks throughout the nation reported being intimidated, harassed or doxxed for his or her pro-Palestine activism. College college students, notably Arabs and Muslims, stated they felt unsafe and unsupported by their universities. Some stated they’ve misplaced their jobs over their social media posts.

“The campaign of anti-Muslim bigotry and anti-Palestinian racism that has emerged to target really all and any support of Palestinian human rights from October to the present day has significantly affected the safety of American Muslims, Arabs and Palestinian communities across the United States,” stated Farah Afify, CAIR’s analysis and advocacy coordinator.

Muslim and Arab teams throughout the nation have criticized the White House for not calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, in addition to for not forcefully calling out the human rights violations in opposition to Palestinians by Israeli forces and the following bigotry that has been seen within the U.S. During the Democratic main season, many Muslim and Arab voters have opted to decide on “uncommitted” on their ballots somewhat than vote for President Joe Biden.

“This wave of Islamophobia that we’re seeing right now is just a precursor. We have a choice of either quietly accepting the people we picked to represent us endorsing this kind of garbage, or we can as a nation decide to call them out for it,” stated Corey Saylor, CAIR’s analysis and advocacy director.

Anti-Muslim bigotry will possible worsen if Democrats don’t push for significant modifications in Gaza and make amends with Muslim and Arab teams within the U.S.

“Political leaders have to come out forcefully, not just against Islamophobia and against anti-Palestinian racism, but also to come out forcefully for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza so that the lives of Muslims Arabs and Palestinians across the world can be protected,” Afify stated.