Today in Islamophobia

Today in Islamophobia: In India, researchers warn that generative AI is making it easier to create fake sexualised imagery and propaganda targeting Muslim women in the country, meanwhile in Australia, human rights lawyer Sarah Schwartz writes that as a Jewish person publicly supporting Palestinian freedom, Israel’s defenders have repeatedly turned symbols of Jewish persecution against her, and in Ireland, authorities have arrested an Iranian national who is accused of setting fire to an Islamic centre and mosque in Dublin, while shouting Islamophobic and anti-immigrant slogans. Our recommended read of the day is by Amina Shareef for Middle East Eye on how the Palestine Action case has revealed that the terrorism discourse “rests upon a particular form of racial knowledge that has long structured anti-Muslim racism and authorized extraordinary forms of state violence.” This and more below:

United Kingdom

Palestine Action case reveals the limits of terrorism discourse | Recommended Read

For decades, terrorism has functioned as one of the most powerful languages through which political violence is interpreted. It determines which acts are recognised as legitimate resistance, and which are condemned as ideologically driven. It identifies who may appear as a political actor, and who may appear only as a security threat. The Palestine Action case has revealed that this language is neither neutral nor objective. Rather, it rests upon a particular form of racial knowledge that has long structured anti-Muslim racism and authorised extraordinary forms of state violence. read the complete article

United States

Anti-Muslim politics is not patriotic

Today, our country stands at a crossroads over an age-old issue, one it has grappled with throughout its history of segregation and racial supremacy. America has struggled, and continues to struggle, with the generational issue of race and ethnicity, a wound that takes different forms in different moments of our history. Today, Muslims are increasingly being targeted under the disguise of fear, a fear of their beliefs and of the ethical framework that guides Muslim communities to live by values that are, in many respects, aligned with the principles rooted in the American Constitution. At the Republican Party of Texas Convention, Mohamed Hussein, a Muslim, was told, “There’s no place in America for you.” According to reporting by the Texas Tribune, convention speakers warned that immigrants who do not believe in Judeo-Christian values would erode those values and create problems for America. Hussein was excluded. His faith was used against him, and his loyalty to his country was questioned by political leaders. This is an important case study that we must examine if we hope to build a better tomorrow. read the complete article

Muslim community leaders react to Taste of Italy comment

The same day Harbe Nagi was found deceased in a neighbor's pool, an inflammatory comment was left under a reporter's post by the Taste of Italy Facebook page. CBS6's Anthony Krolikowski asked the Muslim community to respond to the claims made, including that the nonverbal autistic boy would have been killed in a Muslim country. "Most likely whoever wrote this post never lived among Muslims or interacted with them to know the stories. They're humans like everybody else. They have dreams, they raise children, not to kill them," said Dr. Abdurrahman Khalidi, the president of the Islamic Center of the Capital District's board of trustees. "And the Nagi family deserves space to grieve this loss in peace and dignity and be surrounded by love and togetherness and remembrance of their child," added Mehak Jamil a co-founder of the Albany Muslim Advocacy Coalition. "But I think the reality is that unfortunately, this incident is not isolated." Jamil said anti-Muslim hate is rising locally and nationally. "Normalized in public discourse and online spaces and even political conversations from our electeds or candidates that are running for office. And this hatred really seems to intensify during moments when Muslim communities are most visible." read the complete article

Australia

As an Australian Jew who publicly supports Palestinian freedom, I’m targeted by my own community – and neo-Nazis

The question is whether we can confront antisemitism without weaponising Jewish grief or turning Holocaust memory into a political instrument to silence the very forms of solidarity and dissent it should compel. Over the past two years, as a Jewish person publicly supporting Palestinian freedom, Israel’s defenders have repeatedly turned symbols of Jewish persecution against me. Online, I am called a “Kapo” and “Judenrat”, invoking the institutions the Nazis created to make Jews complicit in their own persecution. Those who claim to be the inheritors of the Holocaust circulate memes depicting me as a rat, pin yellow stars on my clothing, place me on a train to concentration camps and describe me as “Hitler’s Jew”. During a live ABC interview, another Jewish guest declared that I was “an anti-Jew”. Afterwards, a publication launched a “debate” about whether that description was justified, as though my Jewishness itself had become a matter for public adjudication. At the same time, I’m a target of actual neo-Nazis. They traffic in conspiracies such as the “Great Replacement”, portraying Jews as the hidden force behind multiculturalism, migration and anti-racism. They recycle familiar caricatures of Jewish appearance and Jewish power that have animated antisemitism for generations. They are indifferent to my views on Israel. They target me because I am publicly Jewish, and because I stand with those they imagine to be the enemies of a white Christian nation: Muslim people, migrants and anti-racists. read the complete article

India

How AI is being weaponised against India’s Muslim women

For years, India’s Muslim women have been subject to online abuse. Now researchers warn that generative AI is taking that harassment to a new level, making it easier to create fake sexualised imagery and propaganda targeting Muslim women. read the complete article

China

The World Has Failed the Uyghurs

For the past decade, an uncrossable distance has separated me from my daughter. She is in the Uyghur homeland — what China’s government calls Xinjiang — living under Beijing’s totalitarian drive to erase our culture. I am in exile, having fled nine years ago to avoid arrest. When I last saw her, she was a wide-eyed 6-year-old. She is growing up today without her father in a country that wants her to forget who she is. Countless families like mine have been shattered by Beijing’s drive to forcefully assimilate Uyghurs into Chinese society. As many as one million Uyghurs and other Turkic ethnic minorities were sent to detention facilities between 2016 and 2019, forced to renounce Islam and subjected to Communist Party indoctrination. China says it closed those facilities, but Uyghurs still face coerced labor, mass surveillance and forced birth control. Many others have simply been imprisoned; I have reason to believe several of my relatives are among them. The world has failed us. If we are to survive as a people, Uyghurs in the diaspora must preserve in exile what China is erasing. read the complete article

Ireland

Man charged after arson attack on Islamic centre in Dublin

A man set fire to an Islamic centre and mosque in Dublin, shouting Islamophobic and anti-immigrant slogans. Authorities say the 40-year-old Iranian national has been arrested and charged over the arson attack, with no injuries reported. read the complete article

International

No, this video doesn’t show Muslims enslaving Christian Africans

A video showing a long line of shirtless men, their hands tied behind their backs, walking down a muddy road under the watch of armed men, has gone viral online. The footage was shared by Islamophobic social media accounts, including FanKarolineLeavitt – an account dedicated to the White House press secretary – and Dr Maalouf, who posted it on June 23 and 25, respectively. Together, these two posts have garnered nearly four million views. The authors of the posts claim that the video shows “Muslims (...) enslaving Black Christian Africans”. They also accuse “mainstream media, leftists, the UN and the woke Pope” of covering up the story. The comments section is flooded with Islamophobic messages and hate speech targeting Muslims. However, this video has actually been taken out of context. read the complete article

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