Today in Islamophobia

Today in Islamophobia: In the United States, Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith told an audience quote — “he hates Islam,” and that “people need to be okay with hating again because there are things that God hates,” meanwhile in the United Kingdom, Derek Roberts, a man whose social media account featured dozens of racist and anti-Muslim messages is now being employed by a Reform Senedd politician as a special adviser, and in Canada, Community members gathered in London, Ontario Tuesday evening to honour the Afzaal family, and reflect on efforts to combat Islamophobia and hate as the fifth anniversary of the family’s deaths approaches. Our recommended read of the day is by Edna Mohamed for Al Jazeera, on the far-right UK Restore party, which is gaining ground and has pledged to implement the ‘most ambitious programme of mass deportations ever seen in Britain.’ This and more below:

United Kingdom

Does UK’s new far-right party, Restore, pose a threat to Farage’s Reform? | Recommended Read

Footage from the incident – which Nowak’s family have allowed to be released to the public – shows a devastating scene in which the dying boy is handcuffed, uttering his last words, “I can’t breathe.” Many politicians have since leapt on the opportunity to reap political capital from the tragedy. “I just kept thinking, that’s someone’s boy. That could be my boy,” Kemi Badenoch, leader of the former governing – now floundering – Conservative Party, told The Times newspaper on Tuesday. Farage seized the chance to rally Reform supporters against what he has framed as an appalling example of extreme racism towards a white boy – even going so far as to liken the tragedy to the killing of George Floyd by a police officer in the US. But his real message, observers say, was to former supporters who have deserted his party in droves in favour of a new far-right group, Restore Britain, which is arguably even more anti-immigration than Farage himself. Since its launch less than four months ago by disgruntled former Reform member Rupert Lowe, Restore has amassed more than 96,000 members and 13 councillors who have mostly defected from Reform. The creation of a new party that splinters the far-right, anti-immigration vote may seem counterintuitive, but Georgios Samaras, assistant professor of public policy at the School for Government and the Policy Institute at King’s College London, told Al Jazeera that it’s not actually all that surprising, as Reform UK is increasingly seen as “mainstreaming” its ideas as it attempts to make itself more palatable to the population at large. “Reform in the eyes of far-right extremists is too soft,” Samaras said. A gap in the market has emerged, and it has been filled by Restore, led by Lowe, MP for Great Yarmouth and a former member of Reform. read the complete article

Reform special adviser's social media featured dozens of racist and anti-Muslim posts

A man whose social media account featured dozens of racist and anti-Muslim messages is now being employed by a Reform Senedd politician as a special adviser. Derek Roberts, who quit as a Reform candidate for this year's Senedd election after concerns were raised within the party about his Facebook account, is now working for Reform's Gaz Thomas. In one post on his account seen by BBC Wales a racial slur is used to describe people from Pakistan, while another openly supports far-right activist Tommy Robinson. The posts from 2022 to 2025 prompted questions about the party's vetting procedures. Reform in the Senedd said: "We do not comment on our internal hiring processes." read the complete article

NHS staff should be banned from wearing pro-Palestinian badges, report recommends

NHS staff could be barred from wearing political badges on their uniforms, such as pro-Palestinian symbols, as part of proposals to help tackle antisemitism. The measure is one of several recommendations in a review by the government's independent adviser on antisemitism, Lord Mann. The review examined antisemitism and other forms of racism within the NHS. Its findings include that some Jewish patients and NHS staff have felt the need to hide their religious identity. read the complete article

UK far right 'hijacking' Henry Nowak killing to spew anti-Muslim rhetoric

British far-right demonstrators have been accused of exploiting the murder of British student Henry Nowak to amplify Islamophobia - despite the incident having no links to Islam or Muslims. In Southampton on Tuesday, a group of far-right individuals rioted in the southern English city following the verdict on Nowak’s case, which convicted Vickrum Digwa of murder and sentenced him to life with a minimum of 21 years in prison. Videos on social media appeared to show one man saying: "Our nation has been invaded. Many of them bow down to the false God of Islam. This is a Christian nation". Digwa is a British Sikh and had stabbed Nowak with a Sikh dagger, also known as a kirpan. Far-right activist Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, attended the march and also used the occasion to spew anti-Islam rhetoric. Robinson was filmed saying: "Henry’s murder - I’ve spoken about this for 20 years. To be a victim of a race gang, i.e., Pakistani Muslims, will be beating up a white kid, the police will turn up, and they will jump on the white kid. Every time, I’ve seen it my whole life." "They took a real horror, stripped it of its truth, and turned it into fuel against whichever community is convenient," said British Muslim advocacy group MEND. "And now the noise they’ve generated pulls attention away from the questions that actually demand answers. read the complete article

United States

‘We were attacked as bad Jews’: Columbia faculty who supported Gaza protests file claims with Trump’s antisemitism fund

When Columbia University reached a settlement with the Trump administration last year, the deal included a $21m fund to compensate Jewish employees for an allegedly hostile work environment due to heated protests against Israel’s war in Gaza. This week, as the window to file claims with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission came to a close, several Jewish faculty members filed claims to say they had experienced harassment as Jews on campus – but probably not on grounds Trump’s EEOC intended. In half a dozen filings shared with the Guardian, excerpts of which were also made public, faculty alleged that Columbia indeed enabled a hostile climate for Jews. But they argued that the hostility they faced stemmed from their support for Palestinian rights and student protests. They criticized what they view as Columbia’s implication that all Jews identify with the state of Israel as “textbook antisemitism”, and argued that by repressing pro-Palestinian speech in the name of Jewish safety, the university turned Jews into “scapegoats”. read the complete article

After the San Diego mosque attack, a grieving community grapples with rising Islamophobia and questions over police response

When she finally emerged, headed toward the evacuation zone, she saw Amin Abdullah, the mosque's security guard, lying on the floor in front of the exit. She screamed while her coworker's knees buckled. Imani grabbed her before she fainted. "It was so graphic," she said. "Every single kid that walked into the school that day — every single staff, everybody spoke to Brother Amin that day." At the Seventh-day Adventist Church down the street, where staff and students had evacuated, Imani stood at the door and counted faces as each child walked in. When the rosters finally closed and every student was accounted for, the staff collapsed in relief. Three members of the ICSD community died that day. Dr Hatem Bazian, a leading Islamophobia scholar and UC Berkeley lecturer, described the current period as a shift in degree rather than kind. Anti-Muslim hostility, he argued, had long operated as an external force, visible in foreign policy and military intervention. What had changed was its domestic direction. "Islamophobia has turned decisively deadly in the Western landscape," he said, situating the San Diego attack within a broader pattern of intensifying hostility toward Muslim communities inside Western countries. read the complete article

Rep. Ogles deletes homophobic tweet, blames staff amid rare GOP pushback

Rep. Andrew Ogles (R-Tennessee) is blaming his staff for a homophobic post made on his X account, as Republicans issue rare criticism of one of their member’s social media activity. A post on Ogles’s official X account Tuesday stated: “Homosexuality has no place in America. Happy Nuclear Family Month.” The post was seemingly in response to the start of Pride Month, which celebrates the LGBTQ community. After widespread backlash, the tweet was deleted. Late Tuesday, Ogles wrote on his account that a member of his communications team had made the post while he had been out working on his farm. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) and other GOP lawmakers expressed rare displeasure with the post. Ogles has a history of making offensive social media posts, particularly those expressing Islamophobic sentiments — though they typically have been ignored by House GOP leadership. read the complete article

FWISD parents, educators protest Muslim principal’s reassignment at board meeting

Parents, educators and community leaders gathered at the Fort Worth ISD school board meeting Monday evening to voice opposition to the district reassigning a Muslim principal from her position. FWISD reassigned Shayma Alzubi from becoming Western Hills High School’s new principal days after the announcement of her hire in late May drew backlash from conservative groups. Screenshots of Alzubi’s social media activity indicating her support of the Black Lives Matter movement, Palestinians and immigrants circulated online. The district is currently investigating Alzubi after determining the posts may not align with the district’s social media policy and expectations for staff, Louis Kushner, chief of staff, said in a May 26 statement. Religious leaders and educators described the move last week as the result of an “anti-Muslim witch hunt.” read the complete article

For 25 Years, the War on Terror Has Turbocharged Surveillance and Imperialism

To honor our anniversaries, Truthout and Haymarket Books are coming together for a series of live-streamed events, focusing on crucial political moments and movements from the last 25 years. In our first conversation, Truthout editor-in-chief Negin Owliaei and Maya Schenwar, director of the Truthout Center for Grassroots Journalism, joined Truthout contributors Khury Petersen-Smith and Maha Hilal to focus on the impact of the so-called “war on terror” and the social movements that have emerged since. We draw on lessons from the war on terror and the anti-war movement of the 2000s to inform today’s struggles against war and imperialism. read the complete article

Indiana Lt. Gov. faces backlash over comments that ‘he hates Islam’

During an appearance last week, Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith told an audience quote -- "he hates Islam," and that "people need to be okay with hating again because there are things that God hates.” read the complete article

Canada

Community gathers to remember Afzaal family ahead of fifth anniversary of hate-motivated attack

Community members gathered in London Tuesday evening to honour the Afzaal family, and reflect on efforts to combat Islamophobia and hate as the fifth anniversary of the family’s deaths approaches. The event, titled Rooted in Remembrance and Growing Together as Allies, was organized by the London and Middlesex Local Immigration Partnership (LMLIP) in collaboration with the Al Ghazali Centre. Attendees observed a moment of silence in memory of the Afzaal family, who were killed on June 6, 2021, while out for an evening walk in northwest London. “We want, as we remember the family, as we remember their pain, we also want to know how we can move forward together as a community,” said Huda Hussein, manager at LMLIP. The gathering focused on allyship, inclusion and ways to address discrimination and hate within the community. read the complete article

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