Today in Islamophobia

Today in Islamophobia: In the United States, authorities have revealed that the San Diego mosque shooters left behind a 75-page document that preached Islamophobia, antisemitism, and anti-Black racism, and referenced the gunman in the 2019 mosque attack in Christchurch as their inspiration, meanwhile across the country, community leaders say they are “heartbroken but not surprised by the attack” in San Diego given the national proliferation in anti-Muslim rhetoric and hate incidents, and in the United Kingdom, Brett Muscroft, a newly-elected Reform UK councillor in Wakefield, has shared racist and Islamophobic posts online. Our recommended read of the day is by Mustafa al-Dabbagh for Middle East Eye on how the “Unite the Kingdom” rally was an Islamophobic event disguised as patriotism, where the rhetoric involved the deliberate dehumanization of millions of British Muslims. This and more below:

United Kingdom

British Muslims are not invaders of the UK. This is our home too | Recommended Read

There is something deeply dishonest about a rally that calls itself “Unite the Kingdom”, while giving a platform to rhetoric that tells British Muslims they do not belong and mocking Muslim women’s clothing. This weekend’s events in London were not merely offensive, nor just another ugly episode in our already poisoned public debate. They were a warning about the dangerous direction in which parts of our politics and media culture are drifting. When Islamophobia is disguised as patriotism, and entire communities are spoken about as if they are a threat to be removed, restricted or defeated, we are no longer witnessing robust political disagreement. We are witnessing the deliberate dehumanisation of millions of fellow citizens - a path history has shown leads only to darkness. A recent report from the Runnymede Trust documents rising Islamophobia in the UK in recent years, as manifested in the 2024 summer riots. In addition, survey after survey has highlighted the problem, with a report last year finding that one in three Muslim women have experienced Islamophobia or racism first-hand while travelling on public transport. British Muslims, who comprise more than six percent of the total population, are not guests in this country. This is our home. We teach in its schools, seek care in its hospitals, serve in its public institutions, run its businesses, volunteer in its communities, and raise our families here. We share Britain’s anxieties, hopes, frustrations and future. To suggest otherwise is not only bigoted; it is to lie about Britain itself. read the complete article

Reform UK Councillor Shares Racist and Islamophobic Content and Backs Tommy Robinson

A newly-elected Reform UK councillor in Wakefield has shared racist and Islamophobic posts online, as well as posts supporting prominent far-right activists and politicians. Brett Muscroft, the new Reform UK councillor for the Castleford Central & Glasshoughton ward, features as one of a slew of more than 30 scandal-hit Reform candidates to have been elected for the party earlier this month. They have faced a litany of allegations of sharing hateful material online, despite Reform’s spokesperson for Home Affairs Zia Yusuf stating that the party has the “best vetting in the country”. A Facebook account in his name, which appears to have been locked down following approaches by this outlet, has included deeply offensive content targeting Muslims, and to express support for infamous leaders of British far-right movements past and present. In one post, the account describes how “Britain has looked like a third world shit hole like Pakistan Kenya etc since Pakistan and far east have settled in UK”, adding that the perception of changes in how communities look in the country is “disgraceful”. read the complete article

United States

San Diego Killings Follow Rising Anti-Muslim Rhetoric

The young men who killed three people outside a San Diego mosque complex this week had expressed hatred for all types of people, inspired by vitriol and conspiracy theories they found online, law enforcement officials said. But it was Muslims they chose to target. To some, the killings seemed like an inevitable result of a swell of Islamophobia in the United States and around the globe. Anti-Muslim rhetoric on the right has become louder, with Republican politicians raising concerns about new Muslim schools and growing Muslim communities, and at the most extreme, suggesting Muslims don’t belong here. Hatred against Muslims is a longstanding problem. This week, Laura Loomer, an adviser to President Trump, suggested on social media that all Muslims should be deported and called them an “invasive species.” Her remarks showed how mainstream Islamophobia had become, said Nader Hashemi, the director of the Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown. “These used to be fringe movements, people who were at the margins of society,” he said. “Now Laura Loomer has direct access to the White House.” He added, “So no surprise, then, that these things get internalized by people who then commit these acts of violence.” read the complete article

San Diego white supremacist shooters named Australia's worst mass murderer in online posts

Two teenagers who murdered three people in an attack on an Islamic centre in San Diego earlier this week the Australian perpetrator of the 2019 Christchurch massacre in which 51 people were killed, as direct inspiration. Investigators claim Caleb Vasquez, 18, and Cain Clark, 17 met online prior to carrying out the attack. In a lengthy manifesto attributed to the shooters that has been obtained by ABC NEWS Verify, the killers described themselves as the "sons" of the Christchurch shooter and named him as "our biggest inspiration". The two killers appear to have live-streamed their attack, with video emerging online that shows two individuals wearing military uniforms adorned with white supremacist symbols and firing rifles decorated with Neo-Nazi symbols. Similarly decorated weapons and gear were used by the Christchurch murderer in his own live-streamed attack in 2019. The International Centre for Counter-Terrorism has described the Christchurch killer, who also left behind an extensive online manifesto, as an "inspiration" for successive far-right terrorist manifestos. read the complete article

For many Muslim Americans, San Diego mosque shooting was not surprising as Islamophobia rises

As US Muslims grieved in the wake of the fatal shooting at a San Diego mosque and Islamic centre, community leaders said they were heartbroken but not surprised by the attack. Monday's shooting, which left three community members dead, in addition to the two shooters, took place amid a national proliferation in anti-Muslim rhetoric and hate incidents. "For years, the Muslim communities across the country have experienced rising Islamophobia, anti-Muslim harassment, dehumanisation, threats and dangerous rhetoric that paints our communities as suspects, threatening, or somehow less deserving of dignity and safety. And we saw that," Tazheen Nizam, director of the San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said at a press conference on Tuesday. Threats and attacks on Muslim Americans and their places of worship have spiked since the outbreak of Israel's war on Gaza in October 2023. This was exacerbated the following year with the second presidential election of Donald Trump, who has implemented a strict Muslim travel ban, overseen mass deportations, ordered the punishment of and mischaracterised anti-war protesters, and whose social media posts often contain hateful rhetoric. read the complete article

Bay Area man connected to San Diego mosque grew up with victim in deadly shooting

The Islamic Center of San Diego, site of Monday's shooting, used to be like a second home for Rami Bailony. "It is shocking. In many ways, you don't even want to believe it," says Bailony, who grew up attending the mosque and school. "It's a place that has been connected to our lives, ever since we were born." Bailony's father helped to establish the Islamic center. His brother's children were in class there when the shooting happened. They all grew up with Mansour Kaziha, the mosque caretaker, who is one of three people killed by the two teenage shooters. "Every camping trip. Every barbecue. He was there. He was really like an uncle to me," says Bailony, who now lives in Belmont. " He is the type of person who served people with a kind of quiet goodness. He made everyone around him feel safer and loved." Sources tell ABC News that anti-Muslim and Islamophobic writings were found in the vehicle with the two teens. Members of the Muslim community say what happened in San Diego is not an isolated incident of anti-Muslim hate. Violent threats have become common for many Bay Area mosques. "We were getting a significant amount of increase in hate emails. We had someone... saying that they have guns, and they want us out. Go back to your own country," says Seema Badar, a former board member of the Muslim Community Center in Pleasanton, the largest mosque in the East Bay. She is also an elected delegate to the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee. read the complete article

Social media, manifesto of San Diego mosque shooters rooted in white nationalism

The gunmen who killed three people at the San Diego Islamic Center left behind a 75-page document that preached hate, anti-Islam ideology and antisemitism and promoted violence and chaos, law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation told The Times. The manifesto was titled “The New Crusade: Sons of Tarrant” and made reference to Brenton Tarrant, who killed 51 people and injured 89 more in an attack on a mosque and an Islamic center in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019, according to the sources. The FBI confirmed Tuesday that it is examining a manifesto, but did not verify the one circulating online that purports to be the attackers’ writings. The Times has reviewed those writings, which espoused hate toward Muslims, Jews, Black people and Latinos and the LGBTQ+ community. The Times also identified social media accounts believed to be used by one of the shooters that idolized school shootings, the white nationalism movement and neo-Nazi terrorism and were flush with memes from the online far-right extremist community. read the complete article

Islamophobia and Lived Experiences in Partnership with Muslim Justice Center

In the past decades, Muslim communities across the United States have navigated a landscape shaped by discrimination and misrepresentation. How does that manifest in the daily lives of Muslim community members in the Greater Hartford area? Throughout the past semester, I had the opportunity to explore this question as a student researcher in the Liberal Arts Action Lab project Islamophobia, Lived Experiences, and Community Space in Greater Hartford. As an international student from Pakistan who moved to the United States for college, I have been drawn to the study of identity, belonging, and social justice both within my Human Rights and International Studies coursework but also as realities that I experience and witness within my communities. My identity as a visibly identifiable Muslim has traveled with me across continents, and continues to shape my experiences in both positive and negative ways. Joining this project offered an opportunity to engage with mosques in the Greater Hartford area, Muslim community leaders, and learn more about Muslim representation within policies and media. Our findings revealed that Islamophobia operates not only through interpersonal prejudice but across schools, workplaces, public institutions, media narratives, and policy systems. Interview and survey data showed that Muslim residents in Greater Hartford frequently navigate experiences of exclusion, institutional mistrust, and discrimination while simultaneously finding strength in mosque spaces and community networks. read the complete article

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