Today in Islamophobia

Today in Islamophobia: In Belgium, for the second time in just 10 days, the Tawfieq mosque in the town of Schelle was targeted with anti-Islam graffiti, meanwhile in the United States, a Vermont man is on trial for shooting three Palestinian students in November of 2023 and claiming that “the CIA told him to do it”, and lastly, in San Diego, California, months after two terrorists killed three men at an area mosque, the City Council unanimously adopted a working definition of Islamophobia with the intention of taking a moral stance against hate. Our recommended read of the day is by Avishay Artsy and Noel King for VOX on how anti-Muslim rhetoric took center stage at the GOP’s midterm convention in Dallas, Texas, where speakers warned that “leftists and ‘Islamists’ were joining forces.” This and more below:

United States

The Republican Party is all-in on Islamophobia | Recommended Read

Anti-Muslim messaging has been on the rise among Republican elected officials for a while, and last week it took center stage at the GOP’s midterm convention in Dallas, Texas, where speakers warned that leftists and “Islamists” were joining forces. “We are witnessing a new and dangerous red-green alliance. Communists and Islamists coming together and sweeping over the Democrat Party,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) told attendees. “They are united because they share the same enemies. They hate Christians. They hate Jews. They hate capitalism. They hate the Constitution. And they hate America.” Former Rep. Mike Rogers, the Republican Senate candidate in Michigan, attempted to link his opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, to the 9/11 attacks: “I never imagined that 25 years after 9/11, I would be running against somebody that campaigns with Hasan Piker, who thinks America deserved it,” he said. “Together, they attack America. They excuse extremism. They treat our country like it’s the villain.” The convention’s rampant Islamophobia isn’t a one-off: It fits a trend of Republican lawmakers attacking Islam and Muslims in the runup to the midterms. read the complete article

Opposition to Mamdani’s 9/11 remembrance was painful to witness

I know that those days weren’t the same for everyone. South Asian and Middle Eastern kids were isolated and bullied at school, their families harassed on the street. A Sikh gas station owner was shot by a gunman who thought he was Muslim. But mostly I recall the tenderness with which people in the city treated one another. That’s why I found it so painful to read, over the last few weeks, that more than 100,000 people had signed a petition designed to prevent the New York mayor, Zohran Mamdani, from attending the official 9/11 commemoration ceremony. Among the reasons offered by rightwing politicians and by the families of some victims was the claim that the mayor should be barred from participating because of “public positions, associations and responses to rhetoric”. The flimsiness, vagueness and illogic of these charges only reveals the obvious. In the eyes of some, the reason why the mayor’s presence would dishonor the dead is not about anything he did. It’s about the fact that, like the men who flew their planes into the towers, Zohran Mamdani is Muslim. Doesn’t it matter that Mamdani was nine years old at the time of the attack on the World Trade Center? Doesn’t it matter that he has never advocated state-sponsored terrorism? Doesn’t it matter that during the election and while in office he promised and has subsequently tried to make life more livable for every New Yorker, regardless of faith, race and ethnicity? Doesn’t it matter that the mayor of New York belongs at an event commemorating something historic that happened in his city? read the complete article

So Much Lies Hidden Beneath the Mamdani-Giuliani Handshake

The ceremony this year became the subject of political scrutiny. Cameras captured Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York, making his way to Rudy Giuliani, who held the same post the day the towers were struck. Days before, Mr. Giuliani went on a TV tirade against Mr. Mamdani, demanding that he stay away from the commemoration. “All the Muslims” Mr. Mamdani supports, Mr. Giuliani said, “are murderers.” At Friday’s ceremony, the former mayor says, he told the current mayor, “I pray for you,” and Mr. Mamdani responded, “Thank you.” The scrutiny of Mr. Mamdani’s every move in the days leading up the 25th anniversary was born out of a controversy that began brewing weeks before. Mr. Giuliani’s tirade was part of a larger smear campaign that deemed the sitting mayor of New York City somehow unfit to attend the ceremony commemorating the darkest day in the city’s history. It’s a story that hinges on the notion that Mr. Mamdani, who was 9 years old the day the twin towers were struck, has beliefs that are more in line with those of the Sept. 11 hijackers than the millions of New Yorkers he serves and governs. Part of the tragedy of senseless violence at the scale witnessed on Sept. 11 is that assigning blame becomes an ambiguous task. How can such violence be avenged? The enemy has shifted in these 25 years: Osama bin Laden, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Saddam Hussein. Even when those men had been vanquished in one way or another, it seems as if the fault can reconstitute and land at the feet of a different Muslim, through the smoke and mirrors of insinuation. A national suspicion toward Muslims — one cultivated by both state policy and a culture that feels comfortable depicting our religion as insidious — has made it easy for a lot of Americans to squint at a Muslim man and see one of the bad guys. read the complete article

A Vermont man is on trial for shooting 3 Palestinian students. He claimed the CIA told him to do it

Jason Eaton insisted he was acting on orders from the CIA and Mossad when he shot three Palestinian college students who were walking past his home a few days after Thanksgiving. He said the U.S. and Israeli intelligence agencies transmitted the messages to him via FM radio and that God was commanding him to protect his Jewish neighbors. Eaton’s claims were at the heart of his insanity defense as he went on trial Monday on attempted murder charges in a case that shook Burlington, Vermont, and reverberated in the West Bank, where the three wounded men grew up and became friends as schoolmates in Ramallah before moving to the U.S. for college. The November 2023 shooting, weeks after the start of the Israel-Hamas war, spawned calls for a hate crime investigation. But no hate crime charges were filed as questions persisted about whether anti-Palestinian animus, an altered mental state or something else had compelled Eaton to open fire on Hisham Awartani, Tahseen Aliahmad and Kinnan Abdalhamid, who were all 20 at the time. read the complete article

Following mosque attack, San Diego City Council adopts definition of Islamophobia

Months after two terrorists killed three men at a San Diego mosque, the City Council Tuesday unanimously adopted a working definition of Islamophobia with the intention of taking a moral stance against hate. Dozens, including faith leaders, spoke in favor of the proposed definition, which reads: "Islamophobia is a form of racism, prejudice, discrimination, hostility, or hatred directed toward Muslims or those perceived to be Muslim, or their property, that targets expressions of Muslim identity or perceived Muslim identity and may manifest through speech, conduct, institutional practices, exclusion, intimidation, harassment, or violence." read the complete article

Australia

Islamophobia In Australia: Shoebridge Raises Alarm

David Shoebridge raises concerns over anti-Muslim hatred and Islamophobia, arguing that these attitudes can contribute to attacks against the Muslim community and Palestinians. The remarks come during a wider discussion about social cohesion, discrimination and the issues facing Muslim Australians. read the complete article

Sydney man who allegedly called 13-year-old Muslim girl a ‘terrorist’ berates judge after bail refused

A middle-aged man accused of a “disgusting” Islamophobic attack on a 13-year-old girl has berated a judge after he was denied bail Omar Yassine made an eventful court appearance on Wednesday after being held by police overnight for allegedly verbally abusing the Muslim schoolgirl on a Sydney bus. Yassine told the court he had “hurled a few insults” at the girl, her friends and someone he thought was a teacher on Thursday but claimed he had not been the instigator. The evidence included a video, recorded by the 13-year-old girl on an inner-western Sydney bus, that showed Yassine calling her a barrage of names, the prosecutor said. The year 8 student, who was wearing a hijab and her school uniform, was allegedly called a “fucking terrorist” and an “immigrant dog” among other insults in the clip, later shared online. read the complete article

International

9/11 at 25 — Why Israel Fuels Islamophobia | Palestine This Week

In this episode we speak to Muhammed Shehada about his clash with the Board of Peace and his concern that it is burying evidence of genocide in Gaza. We unpack revelations in the Haaretz that Benjamin Netanyahu was warned in advance of the 7 October attack. Marking twenty-five years since 9/11, we look at how the War on Terror emboldened Israel, and at the rise in Islamophobia since — fuelled by Israel-linked groups working in alliance with the far right. We close on Britain’s sanctions against Israeli settlement products, the ferocity of the backlash, and how easily measures like this can be circumvented. read the complete article

Belgium

Belgium mosque hit by anti-Islam graffiti twice in 10 days

A mosque in Belgium was targeted with anti-Islam graffiti for the second time in just 10 days, highlighting renewed concerns over attacks targeting Muslim communities in the country, local broadcaster VRT reported Tuesday. The Tawfieq mosque in the town of Schelle was again targeted with the words "F*ck Islam" spray-painted across the width of its facade, according to Muslim Rights Watch Belgium (MRWB). Chaib said the repeated targeting of the mosque showed that places of worship serving Muslim communities are vulnerable, and he urged greater attention to their security. "This can no longer be dismissed as mere vandalism," he said, questioning whether authorities would have responded with the same urgency if another religious community had been targeted. read the complete article

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