Today in Islamophobia

Today in Islamophobia: In Canada, the Yukon Muslim Society is taking extra security measures at its Whitehorse mosque after a series of vandalism incidents at the facility in recent weeks, meanwhile in the United Kingdom, Ivan Jennings, a rightwing extremist who discussed poisoning Jews and Muslims as well as calling for the killing of migrants, has been sentenced to five years in prison, and lastly, Ursula von der Leyen’s European People’s Party (EPP) has adopted a resolution that treats Muslim civic engagement as “inherently suspect” and labels collective religious practice as a threat. Our recommended read of the day is by Ayegul Colak for Middle East Eye, who writes on how German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s party is adopting far-right migration rhetoric in an effort to halt AfD gains, to the detriment of the Muslim community. This and more below:

Germany

Muslims in Germany are being squeezed from both right and left | Recommended Read

"The people want political change," said Alice Weidel on 6 September. She joined 35-year-old lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund in Magdeburg, the capital of the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, to celebrate an unprecedented victory for Alternative for Germany (AfD). Their party captured 43.8 percent of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt. For two years, mainstream parties believed they could starve the far right of oxygen by adopting its agenda. Federal ministers rushed to toughen asylum rules and accelerate deportations towards Syria and Afghanistan, hoping to outflank the AfD on security. By treating Middle Eastern and Muslim minorities as an inherent civic liability, Germany’s centrist parties have dismantled the democratic firewall they claim to protect. For Germany’s 5.5 million Muslims, the political ground has vanished. The squeeze comes from both sides. The far right demands their forced departure under the banner of remigration, while the democratic centre treats their presence as an acute security deficit. read the complete article

United States

The War on Terror: A Quarter Century of Unheeded Warnings

9/11 was a human tragedy, a crime against humanity, and a serious threat to human security. It required responses that would hold those responsible to account, honor the victims, and reassert the rule of international law and our shared humanity, in face of the lawlessness and inhumanity of that day. When I first wrote about these issues in October 2001, it was to highlight the existence of an applicable framework of international law, however imperfect, that enabled and constrained response to the attacks. The “global war on terror,” or GWOT, unfolded differently. It did little to promote accountability for terrorism, or the rights of its victims, while creating many more victims. It proved catastrophic for the rule of law, human rights, and human security across the globe. A quarter century of the “GWOT” demands reflection and reckoning. The historic milestone urges the international community to confront not only the nature and extent of violations in the name of security that have swept the globe, but also their foreseeability – and the adamant collective resistance to change course, even in the face of increasingly striking evidence of harm. It also provides the opportunity and obligation to consider the human beings around the world whose lives have been devastated by post-9/11 counterterrorism. It requires urgent reflection on the implications for the profound human rights challenges and unravelling of norms, processes, and institutions the world faces today. read the complete article

San Diego City Council votes to officially define the term ‘Islamophobia'

San Diego City Council voted unanimously to officially define the term “Islamophobia”. They say anti-Muslim hate is growing and this is a way to fight it. NBC 7’s Shelby Bremer has reaction from the Muslim community. read the complete article

Attack on University of Texas Students Tests Texas G.O.P. Unity

Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas gathered top Republican candidates around him over the summer for a photo portrait in a display of party unity following a bruising primary. There was Ken Paxton, running for U.S. Senate, and Dan Patrick, the lieutenant governor. And there, smiling over Mr. Abbott’s right shoulder, was Bo French. At the time, few outside Texas politics were familiar with Mr. French, a candidate for a statewide office regulating oil and gas who has a history of unvarnished bigotry. But over the weekend he rocketed to national attention — almost all of it negative — after posting racist attacks on University of Texas students as they enjoyed a moment of pure elation at their football team’s improbable comeback victory over Ohio State. In one post, Mr. French described South Asian students at the school as “foreigners” who had “displaced” Americans at the state’s flagship university. Mr. French’s posts struck a chord in a way his anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim comments have not before. The messages threatened to fracture the Texas Republicans’ attempts at solidarity and tested their willingness to criticize one of their own — just weeks before midterm voting begins. Mr. French denied his posts were racist and threw the blame back on Republicans who didn’t fully support his message. read the complete article

Balbir Singh Sodhi: 25 years after 9/11, a Sikh family remembers America's first hate crime victim

One man saw the colour of Balbir's skin, his beard and turban, assumed he was Muslim and shot him, becoming America's first hate crime victim after 9/11. Twenty-five years later, the attacks remain etched into the memory of millions. But for Muslims and those mistaken for Muslims, the aftermath also marked the beginning of years of heightened surveillance, discrimination and violence, fuelled by an increasingly hostile anti-Muslim rhetoric. "My brother's turban, his bracelet, his cloth, is part of American history," Rana tells The New Arab. "I don't think in the last 25 years, there has been a day when I didn't remember him. I remember him almost every day. We weren't aware that we would be a part of the backlash, that we were going to be targeted," he adds. "People see the image of Bin Laden, the beard and turban, and then they immediately associate it with us [Sikhs]." Rana recalls being told to go back to his country by hecklers when he was out shopping once, and another incident where his friend was threatened. read the complete article

Jonathan Majors’s anti-Islam action thriller is laughably terrible far-right propaganda

Co-produced with Bonfire Legend, another macho studio headquartered in Austin, Infidels is not offered up as fodder for interpretation. The film made its intended message clear from the very first trailer, conflating fictional clips with actual footage of the 9/11 attacks, pro-Palestine protests and Fox News personalities, before revealing an IS flag flying over a college campus as the Islamic call echoed with doom. Then there was the tagline: “Coming soon … or already here?” Talk about twirling the mustache. The reactions were as polarized as you would expect, with mainstream filmgoers and critics deriding the premise as xenophobic and Islamophobic, while rightwing commentators in the media and online cheered the brazen political incorrectness. “If you’re afraid to put radical jihadis as your villains,” said Bonfire’s Dallas Sonnier, “then you’re a wimpy movie producer. We don’t have that fear.” The 128-minute feature, which took me three tries to finish, plays like a PragerU student film. The characters aren’t so much colorful as they are drawn in crayon: the campus HR who’s dazzled by the mysterious terrorist sleeper cell in her midst, the spineless university president whose failure to crack down on student protests makes his campus vulnerable. Only the pregnant college professor, who just a few scenes earlier was urging the president to crack heads, stands out as totally incidental to this batshit story. read the complete article

United Kingdom

British university reinstates Egyptian student who was suspended after pro-Palestinian protests

A prestigious London university will re-enrol an Egyptian student who was suspended following his participation in pro-Palestinian protests, after senior leadership initially enforced disciplinary action that could have triggered his deportation from the UK. Usama Ghanem, 22, will return to King’s College London (KCL) this fall, nearly 18 months after university officials indefinitely suspended him and moved to revoke his visa sponsorship, according to an email he received in late August. This followed three reviews over his alleged actions in student-led demonstrations calling for the liberation of Palestinian people from Israel’s bombing and siege in Gaza. While the university said in the email it upheld its allegations of non-academic misconduct against Ghanem in relation to those actions, dating to 2024 and 2025, it has now informed him that there were “no breaches” of the terms of his exclusion. Ghanem’s case, which CNN covered in February, prompted public outcry from some academics, who warned against what they described as a crackdown by US and UK universities that they said disproportionately targeted Muslim students and students of color for lawful expressions of Palestinian solidarity and legitimate criticism of Israel. read the complete article

English far-right extremist who discussed killing Jews, Muslims and migrants is jailed

A rightwing extremist who discussed poisoning Jews and Muslims and called for the killing of migrants and minority communities has been jailed. Ivan Jennings, 46, called for the murder of hundreds of people he labelled “subhumans”, saying it was “justified and actually needed”, in extreme far-right groups over a period of three months in 2024. The father-of four from Stafford had pleaded guilty to encouraging terrorism in an online chat between 15 August and 14 November that year and dissemination of a terrorism publication, namely a manifesto by the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik, on 21 August 2024. He made reference to the 51 people killed in the Christchurch terror attacks, a mass shooting at two mosques in New Zealand on 15 October 2019, adding: “We need a bigger impact.” The court heard that another user commented on the post about the Pakistan independence day event: “It disgusts me to see that in the UK.” Jennings replied: “Exactly, we need to start acting to turn the tables.” read the complete article

UK police charge man with religiously aggravated criminal damage against Muslim venues

British police said on Wednesday that ‌they had charged a 21-year-old man with racially and religiously ⁠aggravated criminal damage against Muslim organisations and venues in London. Illia Bilyk was charged with five offences relating ‌to ⁠offensive graffiti being sprayed on five buildings in January ⁠2025, London's Metropolitan Police said. He is ⁠due to appear in court ⁠on Thursday. read the complete article

International

Europe's most powerful party is stoking a Muslim scare

At its political assembly in Vienna at the end of June, Ursula von der Leyen's European People's Party (EPP) adopted a resolution that treats Muslim civic engagement as inherently suspect and collective religious practice as a threat. It extends the approach of Germany's Christian Democrats to "political Islam" and echoes French conspiracy theories about "Islamist entryism". The resolution attracted scant media attention, but the effects of this discourse have already been felt by anti-racist organisations in Brussels and beyond. The resolution, titled "Interference of Political Islam in European Democratic Processes", is a significant gesture from the party's presidency itself, rather than from an individual member party, national delegation or affiliated group, which gives it particular institutional weight: it reflects the leadership's collective priorities rather than a single member's initiative. To interpret this resolution, it helps to look at how Germany, and the CDU/CSU in particular, has traditionally dealt with what the state terms "political Islam". From a state policy perspective, "political Islam" or "legalistic Islamism" has served as a means by which the state, drawing on research produced by think tanks and academics, legitimises its interference in Muslim affairs. The presumption of innocence is reversed for Muslims, whose institutions can be dissolved and wealth confiscated without any act of violence, because the alleged ideology of "political Islam" is treated as a breeding ground for it. read the complete article

Canada

Yukon Muslim Society steps up security at mosque after vandalism

The Yukon Muslim Society is taking extra security measures at its Whitehorse mosque after a series of vandalism incidents at the facility in recent weeks. "We never expected it to happen to such a small community like ours," said Kazim Qadir, a board member with the Yukon Muslim Society. On Monday, Yukon RCMP said they charged someone with six counts of hate-related crimes between Aug. 13 to Sept. 10. The Mounties did not release details about the person charged, but court documents obtained by CBC News state the suspect is a 47-year-old man from Whitehorse. Court documents describe the first incident as involving human feces smeared on the mosque doors, along with Islamophobic remarks spray-painted on the building. Qadir says those remarks were blasphemous ones about the Prophet Muhammad, a key figure in Islam. read the complete article

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