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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In the US, Delta Airlines has terminated an employee from their position with the airline’s social media channels following backlash over a post made from an official account that conflated the Palestinian national flag with that of Hamas, meanwhile in Australia, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has approached Ali Kadri to be Australia’s first envoy to combat and counter Islamophobia in the country, and in France, historic gains by Marine La Pen’s far-right National Rally party has caused great concern for French Muslims. Our recommended read of the day is by Faisal Hanif for Middle East Eye on how UK political parties accused Muslims of being disloyal and ‘sectarian’ in the lead-up to the general election. This and more below:
United Kingdom
UK elections 2024: How parties weaponised Islamophobia to court voters | Recommended Read
A demonisation campaign against British Muslims that has gone into overdrive since 7 October 2023 has seen figures now in parliament, along with newspapers and broadcasters who support them, accuse Muslim voters of engaging in "sectarianism". This is to say that Muslim voters are a breed apart, and their choices, as one prolific commentator writes, are "offering a glimpse into a horrifying future". The Centre for Media Monitoring, where I work, has produced a dossier of evidence for this claim, with over 25 examples of media coverage during the election campaign showing how Muslim voters are framed. Some of the claims are hysterical, others are little more than conspiracy theories, and all are very sinister. The regular feast of Islamophobia available on the pages of the Telegraph and the screens of the GB News and Talk TV has its audience. And it is not limited to just those named. Examples we found include an associate editor at The Sun saying that Tower Hamlets, a borough in London that the right-wing media has long vilified, is a "Muslim Ghetto" where imams are delivering postal votes to postal stations by the bagload. The same editor at the British tabloid had just weeks earlier stated that "by the very definition of being a Muslim voter, you are going to be anti-Jewish". The message is that Muslim leaders are fraudsters and Muslim voters are antisemites. Labour politicians, who had long known that they were heading for a landslide victory, similarly facilitated Farage's rhetoric and did everything from de-selecting Muslim candidates such as Faiza Shaheen for liking anti-Israel posts on X to singling out Bangladeshis as the nationality that Starmer wants to see shipped back home. Islamophobia has become one of the weapons that Labour has brandished as evidence of its fit-to-govern credentials. But no one bears as much responsibility in the shifting of the Overton window of politics to a place where Muslims can be openly demonised as the British media. As the dust settles and the new government gets to work, the mainstream media has platformed Labour's losers and those who were within a whisker of losing their seats and given them carte blanche to use race, gender and secularism as weapons with which to craft a discourse of sectarian voting. read the complete article
Muslims aren’t single-issue voters. Gaza was a lightning rod for their disaffection
Should we celebrate or fear the “Muslim vote”? The success of independent candidates running on pro-Palestinian tickets, four of whom were elected, overturning huge Labour majorities, has led to a debate about the role of Muslims in British politics. Whether employed in celebration or denunciation, the concept of the “Muslim vote” is dubious. The election showed the continuing convergence of white and ethnic minority voting patterns. Minority groups, which historically have favoured Labour, were more diverse than ever in their political choices. What about Muslims? A Savanta poll for the online Muslim magazine Hyphen suggested that 44% of Muslims placed the Gaza conflict as one of the five most important issues, compared with 12% of the general public. Muslims, though, are not one-issue voters. Four of their top five priorities in the election were the same as that of all voters – the NHS, the cost of living, the economy and housing. What is not sectarian, though, is believing in the political significance of Gaza, opposing Israel’s assault, demanding a ceasefire, supporting Palestinian freedom. Conflating political support for Palestine with religious sectarianism mirrors the arguments of Islamists, casts solidarity as illegitimate and distorts the meaning of sectarianism, weakening the battle against it. read the complete article
Why is it that Muslims organising always has to be ‘dangerous’?
With a startling decline in support for Labour in these seats, some politicians and the media have taken to painting a picture of sectarian politics, insurgency and intimidation, with much of this directed at Muslims and their organisations. As Labour have suffered heavy losses in select constituencies due to their position on Gaza, the success of the anti-genocide movement and The Muslim Vote has been used to portray the organisation of Muslims as “dangerous”. As Labour’s position on the situation in Gaza has shifted only recently, candidates have been challenged by voters on the party’s support for Israel. Instead of showing contrition after tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed at the hands of the Israeli state, Labour candidates have construed this questioning as harassment from pro-Palestine activists, with some suggesting that they lost votes to independent candidates through intimidation. Labour struggled particularly in areas with large Muslim populations. Rather than complaining of sectarianism and intimidation by Muslims, Labour MPs who have lost or almost lost to Independent candidates need to look at the reasons why they have lost their democratic mandate. Building on the rhetoric of intimidation, the right-wing media has pushed the narrative of a rise in political sectarianism and the dangers posed by Muslims organising around the General Election. read the complete article
United States
Delta removes an employee, changes its uniform policy after backlash over social media post perceived to be anti-Palestinian
A Delta employee has been removed from their position with the airline’s social media channels following backlash over a post made from an official account that some perceived to be anti-Palestinian. In a statement shared with CNN Friday, Delta said the company “removed a mistakenly posted comment on X Wednesday because it was not in line with our values and our mission to connect the world.” “The team member responsible for the post has been counseled and no longer supports Delta’s social channels,” the airline said in the statement. “We apologize for this error.” Azka Mahmood, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations chapter in Georgia, where the airline is based, said in a statement that conflating the Palestinian national symbol to Hamas “erases the existence and legitimacy of the entirety of Palestine.” A Delta spokesperson said the flight attendants pictured were compliant with the company’s current uniform guidelines and the company has contacted them to offer support. Both flight attendants remain employed by the company, the spokesperson said. However, effective Monday, the company will only allow US flag pins to be worn, Delta told CNN. The move is a departure from previous policies that allowed pins representing countries and nationalities from around the world to be displayed, according to the spokesperson. Mahmood criticized the change to the uniform policy, noting that it “erodes (Delta employees’) freedom of expression.” read the complete article
US Muslims don't need a White House Muslim liaison. They need an end to state violence
On 8 July, Mazen Basrawi, a senior adviser to US President Joe Biden, announced the end of his tenure as the White House Liaison to American Muslim Communities. Replacing him is Elvir Klempic, who most recently served as the White House Liaison for the US Agency for International Development (USAID). However, rather than facilitate engagement with Muslims or make any substantive policy changes on issues that affect them, the liaison has thus far seemed only to parrot the positions of the administration. This is unsurprising, as the role itself was designed to undermine the Muslim community. Like many US spokespersons and officials legitimising Israel's genocide of Palestinians over the last nine months, Basrawi has regurgitated the official pro-Israel narrative while promoting superficial efforts to convince communities that Biden cares about them. If there were any doubt that the new liaison would do anything more than faithfully serve the current administration, the first email sent from Klempic on 11 July was an announcement regarding the sanctioning of additional Israeli individuals and entities. This is not the first time that the State Department has imposed sanctions on extremist settlers over the past nine months of the genocide. Far from being a cause for celebration, such measures do nothing to stop the ongoing violence experienced by Palestinians, whether in the West Bank or Gaza. The position of White House Muslim liaison was never about protecting the interests of the community. Instead, it was designed for one of its "elite" members to occupy it, under the guise of representation, and set the agenda for oppressed groups (through one-sided communications) while also defining their position to the oppressor class. Rather than appoint members who actually represent the community, the Biden administration has consciously chosen career civil servants who will faithfully send a message to Muslims that they should a) be grateful to be acknowledged, b) accept their subordination, and c) remain loyal and resist the impetus to challenge the actions of the administration. read the complete article
How Israel Lost America
Both the ongoing campus protests and the broader discussion of Israel’s genocide in Gaza have persistently been framed by a disingenuous political narrative—picked up and thoughtlessly recycled in far too many mainstream media reports—as a crisis of “antisemitism on campus.” I pointed out in another piece last fall that this “crisis” stems from, builds on, and is now adding to the carefully choreographed and mendacious campaign by Zionist organizations to stretch the term “antisemitism” to the breaking point and beyond. For years, organizations including Jonathan Greenblatt’s Anti-Defamation League have worked assiduously to try to redefine the very concept of “antisemitism” in order to force criticism of Zionism or of the policies of the Israeli state into the dictionary meaning of that term—i.e., racism against Jewish people. That’s because the intent of the ADL and similar outfits (as well as the politicians with whom they are coordinating) is to misrepresent the enormous tide of student protest against Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza not merely in order to discredit it but to banish it altogether. Their aim, in fact—and this is no longer mere speculation but already taking form in pending legislation—is to render criticism of Israel not simply “immoral” but all but illegal. read the complete article
Australia
Albanese taps Muslim leader Ali Kadri for Islamophobia envoy role
The government has approached Ali Kadri, a high-profile Queensland Muslim leader, to be Australia's first envoy to counter Islamophobia. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese revealed last week that Jillian Segal will serve as Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, saying an Islamophobia envoy would be unveiled shortly. Multiple sources with an understanding of the process have told Capital Brief that Ali, chief executive of the Islamic College of Brisbane (ICB) and a well-known figure in Brisbane, has been approached for the role. That approach only took place in recent days, and he has not yet made a decision on taking the role. Kadri escaped sectarian violence in his native India, arriving in Australia aged 21. Initially an international student studying a masters’ degree, he went on to become the youngest president of Brisbane’s Holland Park Mosque. As CEO of the ICB, Kadri has regularly taken part in media events designed to combat Islamophobia in Australia. read the complete article
France
Muslim's in France fear for their future amid far-right gains
France is in the grip of political uncertainty after snap elections upset the balance of power in the country’s parliament. The hard-right National Rally party of Marine Le Pen scored highest in the first round, prompting other parties to strategically drop out of electoral races to build a barrage against the extreme right. But Le Pen’s party still ramped up its seat share, and she says its victory has only been postponed. The historic gains spread the party’s reach far out into central France, including in the eastern city of Chalon-sur-Saone, where Morgane Guechi has started a club for Muslim women who feel worried about the rise of the far right in their region. read the complete article
Germany
A Conversation with Sukayna El-Zayat about Muslim Life in Germany
On July 10th, we welcomed Sukayna El-Zayat to our office for the second part of our series, “Rethinking Jewish and Muslim Life in Germany.” Sukayna El-Zayat currently works as our colleague at the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung headquarters in Berlin. She studied International Relations in the Netherlands, was active in the Muslim Youth Germany, and has worked in the Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organisations as an Anti-Islamophobia Officer. The dialogue then turned to the present, examining how the war in Gaza, the rise of the far-right, and anti-Muslim bias are impacting daily life for millions of people in Germany. Currently, an average of five incidents of anti-Muslim discrimination are reported every day, a 114% increase from the year before. Sukayna brought an interesting perspective, explaining why she prefers not to use the term “Islamophobia” for these incidents, as it implies a tangible fear that does not fully describe the structure of hate and discrimination against Muslim people today. The situation for Muslims has deteriorated greatly since the outbreak of the war in Gaza last year. While solidarity for Palestinians has always been a part of Arab Muslims’ political activities, and their public actions have been historically heavily policed, there has been a significant increase in policing pro-Palestine demonstrations as well as cultural events. Hand in hand with this increased police presence, there have been more incidents of state violence and police brutality targeting Muslim as well as Jewish protesters in Berlin. read the complete article