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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In the UK, Byline Times has found that TellMAMA, a government-funded anti-Muslim hate crime monitoring organization, has underestimated the national scale of incidents, meanwhile in India, Hindu extremists attacked the Raza Jama Mosque in Kolhapur yesterday, with locals saying the attackers “set fire to a Quran” while shouting Hindu nationalist slogans, and in Israel, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called Arab lawmakers “terrorists” in the Knesset, prompting outcries and rebukes from the targeted lawmakers. Our recommended read of the day is by Anna Błuś for EU Observer on France’s hijab ban for Muslim women athletes and how such a divisive policy flies in the face of what the Olympics are supposed to represent. This and more below:
France
The Olympics should be for all women, including Muslim women | Recommended Read
In the last few months, my runs have become faster. I have been channelling the feelings of rage and injustice into them and dedicating them to the sportswomen in France who I have been speaking with as part of my work with Amnesty International. Footballers, basketball players, volleyball players, gym lovers and swimmers — all prevented from doing what they love because they are Muslim and wear hijabs and other forms of religious clothing. Yes, you read that right — this is what is happening in France, the country that wants you to think it champions women’s rights. The country that proclaims its devotion to “égalité” will in just a few days host the 2024 summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. Last September, France’s minister for sport Amelie Oudea-Castera announced that no female athlete representing the country will be allowed to compete in the Games if she wears religious headgear. This country, marred by gendered Islamophobia for decades, would rather risk losing medals, discriminate against and exclude incredibly talented sportswomen from its national teams than allow them to be their full selves. But it’s not only during the Olympics that France does not want to see visibly Muslim women. Even at amateur levels and in regional competitions, several sports federations have banned sports hijabs. So, after training for years, excelling in their sport, coaching young girls and considering sports as a professional career, young Muslim women athletes are told to remove their hijabs or give up on their dreams. “It’s gender-based violence because … the referees are, the majority of them are men,” Hélène tells me. “And so, it’s men asking me to take off my clothes. Whether it’s covering the head, whether it’s your T-shirt, whether it’s your dress, this is violence. … It’s a mix of a lot of discrimination and a lot of violence.” read the complete article
India
As a Diminished Modi Returns to Power, Where are the Muslims in the Indian Polity?
In 2024, the world witnessed a remarkable surge in global elections, with over fifty countries, including India and other major democracies, heading to the polls this year. As India’s election dust settles, a familiar debate has surfaced: the 18th Lok Sabha has the least number of Muslim representation. Even more so there seems to be no space for Muslims in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Of the 430 BJP candidates, only one was Muslim, and had he won, he’d have been the sole Muslim MP from the saffron party in the lower house. A direct reminder that in the BJP’s vision of India, their conservative impulse is indelibly tied to their Hindu nationalist identity, which is somewhat a contrast to the conservative parties in other major democracies on ballot this year, where some diversity and inclusivity are begrudgingly acknowledged as essential to the political landscape. As we examine Modi 3.0, it’s essential to understand how the BJP has cultivated a unified Hindu vote bank, allowing them to thrive, especially in contests without a third party rival. This approach has effectively made the 100 million Muslims in the North and West Indian belt (Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, and Delhi) electorally irrelevant. It is important to understand the forces that have contributed to the erasure of Muslim voting power in a significant portion of India. read the complete article
Extremist Hindus violently attack mosque in India
Hindu extremists attacked the Raza Jama Mosque in Kolhapur, India, yesterday. Locals said the attackers set fire to a Quran while shouting 'Jai Shri Ram' ('Glory to Lord Rama'), a chant used by Hindu-fascist groups. read the complete article
‘Anti-Muslim’: Opposition slams UP’s order on displaying names of eatery owners
An order by the Muzaffarnagar district police in Uttar Pradesh asking eateries on the Kanwar Yatra route to display the names of owners to avoid any “confusion” has been criticised by opposition parties as “communally motivated and directed against Muslim traders”. Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera called the order “state-sponsored bigotry”. AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi compared it with apartheid and “Judenboykott”, the boycott of Jewish businesses in Hitler’s Germany. The order followed a statement issued by Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) secretary general Bajrang Bagra on July 9 claiming that Muslims were selling puja items at various Hindu pilgrimage sites by “concealing their identity”. The VHP had urged all state governments to take effective steps to prevent Muslims from running such shops “so that the faith of Hindus was not hurt”. Owaisi, in a post in Hindi, said, “As per the Uttar Pradesh Police order, now every food shop or cart owner will have to put his name on the board so that no Kanwariya buys anything from a Muslim shop by mistake. This was called apartheid in South Africa and in Hitler’s Germany, it was called ‘Judenboycott’.” read the complete article
United Kingdom
Tell MAMA: Why Is Government-Funded Group Under-Reporting Anti-Muslim Hate Crimes by More than 90%?
A company receiving millions of pounds in public funding as the Government’s flagship agency monitoring anti-Muslim hate crimes has systematically underestimated the national scale of incidents, analysis by Byline Times has found. Tell MAMA (Measuring Anti Muslim Attacks) was formed in 2012 as an initiative of the community interest company Faith Matters. But, from 2017 to 2022, the figures it has compiled are consistently lower than anti-Muslim hate crime statistics published by the Home Office based on police data – raising fundamental questions about the accuracy and value of Tell MAMA’s figures. A Byline Times analysis comparing Crime Survey estimates with Home Office data shows that police records severely under-report anti-Muslim hate crimes in Britain by nearly 90%. This suggests that Tell MAMA’s data provides an even poorer picture – failing to capture what is likely to be many tens of thousands of incidents every year. As anti-Muslim hatred appears to have reached epidemic levels since 2019, the Government lacks the institutional capacity to understand the scale of this national crisis. read the complete article
Israel
Ben Gvir calls Arab lawmakers ‘terrorists’ from Knesset rostrum, triggering melee
A raucous scuffle broke out in the Knesset plenum on Wednesday as National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called Arab lawmakers “terrorists” from the podium, prompting them to charge toward him and shout him down. As Deputy Knesset Speaker Moshe Roth (United Torah Judaism) implored Ben Gvir to desist, the far-right minister continued to goad the Arab lawmakers while MKs from the ruling Likud party rushed to physically block the advance of their Arab counterparts. Knesset ushers struggled to keep the sides apart, with one nearly knocked off his feet by Likud’s Hanoch Milwidsky, who along with MK Nissim Vaturi charged toward the Arab lawmakers. Right-wing activists frequently accuse Arab lawmakers of backing terror due to their support for Palestinian nationalism. The mayhem began when Ben Gvir, addressing the plenum, accused Arabs MKs Ayman Odeh and Ahmad Tibi of the Hadash-Ta’al party of being “terrorists.” read the complete article