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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In the Netherlands, Israeli hooligans provoked clashes with Dutch youth in Amsterdam on Thursday after they chanted racist anti-Arab slogans, tore down Palestinian flags and ignored a minute of silence for the Spanish flood victims, meanwhile in the US, an evening that was supposed to be about meaningful conversations and activism turned sour after a Palestinian student group’s flyer was defaced with Islamophobic rhetoric at the University of Cincinnati, and in Finland, the Non-Discrimination Ombudsman warned that the country’s refugee quota plan is likely discriminatory on religious grounds. Our recommended read of the day is by Raja Abdulhaq for Middle East Eye on how following the re-election of former President Donald J. Trump, liberals took to social media to criticize American Muslims, Arabs, and Latinos, “instead of looking inwards for answers on why Harris lost to a candidate as problematic as Trump.” This and more below:
United States
Instead of looking inwards, white liberals are blaming Arab Americans for Trump's victory | Recommended Read
As soon as early election results pointed to a clear victory for former President Donald Trump, liberals took to social media to criticise American Muslims, Arabs and Latinos for not fully supporting Vice President Kamala Harris. Social media posts ranged from calls to deport Muslims and Latinos to wishing for Trump to unleash more destruction on Gaza. This backlash tactlessly showed the dynamics of how white liberals view the role of minorities, especially Muslims and Arabs, in American politics. In a classic display of the white saviour complex, these communities were blamed for "not knowing what's best for them", as though Harris was running altruistically to protect them from the dangers of a second Trump presidency. The fact that Harris' presidential campaign centred on countering Trumpism showed a lack of genuine interest in tackling issues important to minority groups. Democrats actually benefitted from Trump's rise, which presented an opportunity for them to win votes freely by positioning themselves as the only alternative to outright fascism. Yet, instead of looking inwards for answers on why Harris lost to a candidate as problematic as Trump, these liberal Democrats chose to reprimand minorities. Signalling a sense of superiority, they could not hide their racism, implying that it was incumbent upon these minority communities to vote within the guidelines provided by their liberal saviours. By this logic, Arabs, Muslims and Latinos must vote for a Democrat no matter what. This viewpoint strips minority communities of their rights as equal citizens who can partake in the democratic process independently. read the complete article
Don’t dare blame Arab and Muslim Americans for Trump’s victory
As the dust slowly settles on this election, and Kamala Harris stands before the wreckage of a campaign that failed to win over a single swing state, the Democratic Party and its liberal supporters are eagerly looking for someone, anyone, other than themselves to blame for their catastrophic defeat. And, it seems, they’ve already found convenient scapegoats: Arab Americans, Muslims and anyone else who refused to cast their vote for the administration that eagerly enabled the genocide of my people, Palestinians. Throughout the night of November 5, as electoral votes from key states like North Carolina, Indiana and Ohio rolled in for Trump, social platforms became overrun with angry Democrats blaming the result on Arab and Muslim Americans who did not vote for Harris and wishing more death and destruction on our brethren in the Middle East as punishment for this perceived “betrayal”. “I hope every f*cking Muslims [sic] who voted Trump gets to watch Bibi turn Gaza into a glass parking lot,” wrote one. “[Green Party leader Jill] Stein voters are going to see what Trump does to Gaza,” suggested another. Their argument appears to be that by rejecting Harris, we gifted Trump the presidency and “sacrificed” the future of American democracy at the altar of foreign policy. They seem to believe not only that we are powerful enough to decide the fate of democracy in this country but also that, simply due to our minority status, we “owe” our vote to the Democratic Party. Politicians, no matter their party affiliation, are not entitled to the votes of any given demographic. It is their duty, indeed their prerogative, to earn our votes. In this election cycle, however, the Democratic establishment worked tirelessly to ensure we would not vote for them. So this defeat is on them, and on them alone. read the complete article
Arab American US election successes marred by claims of Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias
Alongside Donald Trump’s victory over Kamala Harris in the US presidential election on Tuesday, and amid ongoing tensions in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran, several Arab American incumbents won reelection to their offices at state and congressional levels, some of them unchallenged. Four Arab American members of Congress will return to the Capitol to represent their districts in California, Illinois, Minnesota and Michigan, while five were reelected to State House seats in Illinois, Michigan, Colorado and Iowa. In some places, however, there were allegations of Islamophobia and anti-Arab sentiment as opponents sought to capitalize on voter concerns about terrorism and foreign conflicts. Suzanne Akhras, a Syrian American Democrat who lost to Republican incumbent Nicole La Ha in the race to represent the 82nd District in the Illinois House of Representatives, said she was targeted by anonymous text messages and phone calls falsely linking her to Islamic terrorism, including claims of ties to Hamas. Akhras, who said she has been recognized as an “upstander” by the Illinois Holocaust Museum for confronting hate speech and crime, said the “disturbing calls and text messages” began shortly after she began campaigning door-to-door. She criticized the Republican Party in the state for failing to denounce the attacks, and accused La Ha of running an “abhorrent and dangerous, xenophobic” smear campaign. read the complete article
How Arab and Muslim voters turned their backs on the Democrats
"No new wars, family values, affordable groceries," read Donald Trump’s campaign fliers in Dearborn, Michigan, home to the largest Arab-American community in the United States. And the message clearly resonated. Michigan, a swing state, saw Vice President Kamala Harris and the now president-elect Donald Trump campaign heavily to capture the city’s 200,000 Muslim and Arab American voters. As Harris and Trump scrambled to persuade undecided voters, Trump’s campaign found that some of the up-for-grabs electorate in battleground states were about six times as likely as other voters to be motivated by their views on Israel’s war in Gaza. Trump’s team acted on the data and blitzed Michigan voters of Arab and Muslim descent with an anti-war message. “Why would Muslims support Lying Kamala Harris when she embraces Muslim hating and very dumb person, Liz Cheney,” asked Trump, referring to the daughter of Dick Cheney, the former Vice President under President George Bush who took the country into war in Iraq and Afghanistan. “Her father brought years of war and death to the Middle East. He killed many Arabs, many, many Arabs and Muslims,” added Trump to rapturous approval. In the final weeks, however, anecdotal evidence from the Abandon Harris Campaign indicated that Arab and Muslim voters may have shifted towards the Trump ticket, moving away from Stein. Two things happened, said Ahmad, speaking to The New Arab. “Firstly, Kamala Harris touted the endorsements of the Cheneys and began campaigning with them,” antagonising the Arab and Muslim communities. “Then the Trump-Vance campaign ramped up their anti-war rhetoric and promised a community in deep pain and grief that they would immediately work to end the war once in office,” added Ahmad, referring to Israel’s ongoing wars on Gaza and Lebanon. read the complete article
UC Palestine group’s flyer vandalized with Islamophobic writing
An evening that was supposed to be about meaningful conversations and activism turned sour after a Palestinian student group’s flyer was defaced with Islamophobic rhetoric at the University of Cincinnati on Thursday. The tampered-with flyer for Thursday night’s “Stories of the West Bank” event, hosted by Students for Justice in Palestine, was found in the prayer room at UC’s Langsam Library. Written on it were multiple Islamophobic slurs, such as “terrorist sympathizers,” and words that described the erasure of Palestine from the global map. The QR code for the event was also ripped off. “To put it in the prayer room where they know the majority of Muslim students have to pray five times a day every day, where there’s literally a Torah next to a Quran and there are holy symbols and artifacts of every religion there was just a whole other level of distasteful,” said SJP UC President Laila Shaikh. This is not the first time someone has torn down or defaced the group’s flyers. According to the organization, it has happened “all semester.” When she co-founded SJP, Shaikh said her goal was to condemn human rights violations and end violence in Gaza and the West Bank. But now, that violence has touched many Palestinian Americans, she said. read the complete article
Canada
CJPME cautiously welcomes Trudeau’s commitment to define anti-Palestinian racism
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) cautiously welcomes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s commitment to define anti-Palestinian racism (APR), as revealed in a new statement from Amira Elghawaby, Canada’s Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia. According to that statement, “Trudeau has made a commitment on adopting a definition of anti-Palestinian racism to describe the bias and discrimination far too many Canadian Palestinians are experiencing.” CJPME has been critical of the government’s failure to include APR as part of Canada’s anti-racism strategy earlier this year, and is seeking clarity on how the new commitment will be put into practice. “Amid alarming levels of anti-Palestinian discrimination and political persecution across the country, it is encouraging to hear that the Prime Minister may be finally beginning to take this seriously,” said Alex Paterson, Senior Director of Strategy & Parliamentary Affairs for CJPME. “However, we need to make sure that it is a strong definition which properly reflects how anti-Palestinian racism is inseparable from certain expressions of Israeli nationalism, including Nakba denial. Pro-Israel groups are already mobilizing to water down Canada’s efforts,” added Paterson. read the complete article
Netherlands
Israeli hooligans provoke clashes in Amsterdam after chanting anti-Palestinian slogans
Israeli hooligans provoked clashes with Dutch youth in Amsterdam on Thursday after they chanted racist anti-Arab slogans, tore down Palestinian flags and ignored a minute of silence for the Spanish flood victims. The attacks by some of the travelling Maccabi Tel Aviv fans occurred on Wednesday and Thursday in different parts of of the Dutch capital ahead of their Uefa Europa League match against Amsterdam club Ajax. Hooligans were seen removing at least two Palestinian flags from what appeared to be the front of locals' homes a night before the match, according to the AD daily newspaper. An Arab taxi driver was also attacked by mobs who appeared to be with the Israeli fans, although police said they couldn't identify the nationality of the attackers as no arrests were made. A group of Israeli fans gathered in the Dam Square on Wednesday were filmed sparking confrontations with locals, shouting “Fuck you” at some of them and “Fuck you Palestine”. Ahead of match on Thursday, fans heading to the Johan Cruyff Arena stadium were seen shouting: “Let the IDF (Israeli army) fuck the Arabs”. Israeli far-right ultras are notorious for anti-Palestinian verbal and physical violence. read the complete article
Finland
Ombudsman warns Finland's refugee quota plan discriminatory to Muslims
Finland’s Non-Discrimination Ombudsman warned Thursday that the country’s refugee quota plan is likely discriminatory on religious grounds. The assessment came after the government announced that it will reduce the number of refugees accepted from Muslim-majority countries while increasing the number from Christian countries. According to the Ombudsman, the Interior Ministry’s instruction to prepare the quota plan conflicts with the Finnish Constitution as well as laws on discrimination. “The Interior Ministry instructed officials to prepare the quota refugee plan for 2025 in a way that is in conflict with the prohibition of discrimination in the Constitution and laws on discrimination,” said Deputy Non-Discrimination Ombudsman Robin Harris. The country’s Interior Minister, Mari Rantanen, and acting Interior Minister Lulu Ranne had directed officials to prepare to exclude quota refugees from countries such as Afghanistan while increasing the number of those from Venezuela, the local newspaper Helsingin Sanomat reported. read the complete article
United Kingdom
Islamophobia: a society-wide problem impacting young people
Of all the hate crimes against religious groups, the most are against Muslims — a total of 38 per cent, according to latest Home Office figures reported in the year ending March. This comes as no surprise to a community targeted in Britain’s far-right riots in the summer, when incorrect rumours that the alleged killer of three girls in Southport was a Muslim spread on social media, leading to violent disorder. Police have suggested that the war in Gaza has contributed to discrimination in the UK. The sharp rise is the reason why Islamophobia Awareness Month (IAM) has decided to focus on the smaller picture this November, by promoting the importance of everyday actions. The initiative, set up in 2012, seeks to raise awareness about anti-Muslim discrimination and to promote inclusion in society. A spokesman told the Religion Media Centre: “The theme, ‘Seeds of Change’, is to highlight the importance of small acts, little good deeds, that we can do to create a bigger change. “Really little things like asking your friend a question about Islam, smiling at a Muslim in the street, maybe just calling out a little comment that’s made, reporting an Islamophobic incident. Anything that you might want to do that can contribute to tackling Islamophobia. Islamophobia is not just a Muslim problem, it’s a societal problem.” read the complete article