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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In the United States, more than a dozen Christian and Jewish faith leaders sent demand letters Friday to local elected officials urging them to denounce Tarrant County GOP chair Bo French’s “hateful rhetoric” toward state representative Rep. Salman Bhojani, meanwhile in Israel, a Palestinian bus driver was attacked by a group of Jewish youth shouting “death to Arabs”, the latest in a string of recent racist attacks on Palestinian citizens of Israel, and in the United Kingdom, a deceased pig and an Israeli flag have been found at the entrance of the Central Oxford Mosque, leaving the community “heartbroken” following the incident. Our recommended read of the day is by Rana Ayyub for The Washington Post on how the Indian government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slowly and methodically creating a “class of stateless people” due to policies and practices aimed at the country’s large Muslim minority population. This and more below:
India
Stateless by design: How India is erasing its citizens | Recommended Read
India is quietly creating a class of stateless people — not by war or displacement, but through bureaucracy. It’s happening not at its borders but in cities, detention centers and courtrooms, turning citizens into suspects and neighbors into outsiders. What makes this especially alarming is that it’s happening in a democracy, in peacetime — under the cover of law. This is not just an Indian story. It’s a warning for every democracy flirting with authoritarian tools of exclusion. Nowhere is this more visible than in the state of Assam, where the National Register of Citizens has removed nearly 2 million people, mostly Bengali-speaking Muslims, from official citizenship lists. Some are now detained. Others await judgment from Foreigners Tribunals, a quasi-legal process that has upended lives and destroyed communities. The irony of realpolitik is that it picks and chooses whose rights matter, based on strategic alliances rather than moral consistency. Human rights have long been traded for diplomacy, but rarely has the double standard been starker than in the treatment of China’s Uyghurs and, now, India’s Bengali Muslim minority. The world began speaking loudly about China’s reeducation camps in Xinjiang only when it suited broader geopolitical interests. Today, silence surrounds India’s systematic disenfranchisement of its Muslim population. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has rightly spoken out for Gaza, leading rallies in support of Palestinian statehood. But he has yet to mention the erasure of India’s Muslims. read the complete article
India’s Border Crackdown Is Forcing Bengali Muslims Off Their Own Land In The Ganga-Padma Delta
As security tightens along the once-porous Bangladesh border, Bengali Muslims living on shifting sand bars or chars in Murshidabad, West Bengal, are cut off from land they’ve farmed for generations. Branded as infiltrators, they must now prove citizenship to access their own fields. Permissions are often denied on flimsy grounds, leading to failed crops, deepening dispossession, and forcing many to migrate from the chars to survive as precarious labour. read the complete article
United Kingdom
Man arrested after Muslim woman and her child were 'racially abused' by people painting flags on buildings
Police have arrested a man after a Muslim woman and her child were allegedly racially abused by people painting St George's crosses on buildings. Footage widely circulated on social media shows two topless men painting red crosses on the white walls of flats above a row of shops and restaurants on a high street in Basildon, Essex. As a third person filmed them and a young girl watches on, racial slurs are claimed to have been hurled as a Muslim woman wearing a headscarf gets out of her car and walks past with a child. The row of shops, off Whitmore Way, features venues such as an Indian restaurant, a Chinese takeaway and a burger bar. Essex Police has confirmed that a 33-year-old man, from Basildon, has been arrested on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence and conspiracy to commit criminal damage. The arrest comes after 'multiple reports' were lodged by the public following the video. The flags have also been seen regularly at protests outside asylum seeker hotels, including in Epping, Essex and Canary Wharf, east London. read the complete article
Pig left on mosque door as community left heartbroken by hate crime
A deceased pig and an Israeli flag have been found at the entrance of a mosque. The Muslim community at Central Oxford Mosque is left "heartbroken" following the incident. Police have pledged to "do everything" in their power to locate the perpetrator. They report that a solitary man, dressed in a grey tracksuit and balaclava, scaled the Masid fence of the place of worship around 12.35am on Tuesday, August 19. He is alleged to have affixed pork to the Masid door handles and hung an Israeli flag on the central door. read the complete article
UK Muslim rights group raises concerns over investigation into charity
Legal Action for Peace, an organisation of lawyers and human rights advocates who challenge anti-Muslim hatred and anti-Arab discrimination, has written to the Charity Commission to raise serious concerns over its discriminatory conduct during its investigation into the Abdullah Quilliam Society. LAFP’s complaint follows two letters sent to the Charity from the Commission on 15 July and 5 August 2025 regarding statements made by Ajmal Masroor criticising Israel which the Commission deemed to be “divisive and inflammatory” a position the LAFP strongly refutes, citing several international legal precedents, human rights reports, and United Nations findings that support such descriptions of Israel as being an ‘apartheid,’ ‘racist’ and ‘settler-colonial’ state. In its letter, LAFP alleges that the Commission’s inquiry has disproportionately targeted the Abdullah Quilliam Society, a Muslim organisation, for commentary relating to the State of Israel. The organisation argues that similar commentary by other high-profile human rights organisations—such as Amnesty International—did not lead to equivalent regulatory action, raising questions of unequal treatment and possible discrimination under the Equality Act 2010. read the complete article
United States
Tarrant faith leaders urge officials to condemn GOP chair’s anti-Muslim social media posts
More than a dozen Christian and Jewish faith leaders sent demand letters Friday to local elected officials urging them to denounce Tarrant County GOP chair Bo French’s “hateful rhetoric” toward a Muslim state representative. Earlier this month, French targeted Rep. Salman Bhojani, a Euless Democrat, on social media with multiple posts about Bhojani’s ethnicity and religion. French called on federal officials to “denaturalize and deport” Bhojani, who is Muslim and Pakistani. The Faith & Justice Coalition of Tarrant County shared a copy of their letters with the Fort Worth Report on Aug. 22. The clergy-based leaders wrote they were deeply troubled by French’s comments toward Bhojani and asked for elected officials to speak out against “Islamaphobia and all forms of bigotry.” “These comments are not merely political attacks, they are Islamophobic, divisive, and fundamentally un-American,” the statement read. read the complete article
Muslim group names Wayne State University a ‘hostile campus’ for free speech
A Muslim civil rights group is calling Wayne State University a "hostile campus" for free speech. The Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations held a press conference Monday morning near WSU to announce the designation of the school for allegedly "systematically silencing" Muslim, Palestinian, Arab and anti-genocide voices. The university said in an emailed statement to the News that is deeply committed to supporting freedom of speech, expression and worship for all students, faculty and staff. Amy Doukoure, the organization's lead attorney, cited several incidents where students reported allegedly discriminatory practices from police and administration. She said those included dismantling a peaceful pro-Palestinian encampment that took place on campus, turning on sprinklers at Spirit Rock to "disrupt religious gatherings" and not allowing students to reenter campus events after stepping out to pray. This year, CAIR-MI filed a complaint to the Michigan Department of Civil Rights after university police allegedly "grabbed, pulled (and) forcibly removed" Arab and Muslim students from a peaceful "anti-genocide" demonstration at its student center in April. read the complete article
Laura Loomer's Influence Is Growing
On Saturday, Laura Loomer took to X to celebrate a campaign win. "Today I saved so many American citizens from being killed by pro-HAMAS jihadis," she claimed. "God only knows how many lives I personally saved today by blowing the whistle on rogue actors at State Department giving visas to Gazan families." The U.S. State Department had just announced a pause on any visitor visas for individuals from Gaza while the agency reviews its internal processes for offering visas. The State Department did not say why it had decided to conduct the review, but this did not stop Loomer from taking credit, having on Friday posted a series of videos on X of children from Gaza arriving in San Francisco and Houston for medical treatment, and calling it a "national security threat." This is just one of many times Loomer has taken a victory lap round the White House perimeter in recent months. Despite not holding a government or administration role, Loomer appears to be influencing the government from beyond and experts say this is increasing. Heath Brown, an associate professor of public policy at City University of New York, told Newsweek: "It does seem like Laura Loomer has the ear of the president and his closest White House advisors. It's hard to think of someone in recent history that seems to have such influence over key presidential decisions that doesn't hold an official position in the White House or federal government." Loomer, an independent investigative journalist known in part for her anti-Muslim rhetoric and for sharing conspiracy theories, became increasingly dominant in right-wing circles last year. She accompanied Trump—who has frequently praised her at rallies and on social media—to a number of events during his presidential campaign and has visited his Mar-a-Lago home. read the complete article
Myanmar
Rohingya Muslims' fate in the balance of Myanmar elections
It's been eight years since more than a million Rohingya fled Myanmar after a crackdown by the ruling military junta. Many remain stranded outside the country, relying on humanitarian aid to survive. Now, Myanmar's government has pledged to hold elections, raising new questions about the future of the country and the fate of the Rohingya. Asia Pacific regional director of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Alexander Matheou, joins The World from Kuala Lumpur. read the complete article
Israel
Palestinian bus driver in Israel attacked by youths shouting 'death to Arabs'
A Palestinian bus driver in Israel has been attacked by a group of Jewish youths shouting "death to Arabs", the latest incident in a string of recent racist attacks on Palestinian citizens of Israel. The assault took place in Petah Tikva, in central Israel, on Saturday, according to a report by Israeli news website Ynet. According to the footage of the attack circulating online, one of the youngsters smashed a windshield inside the bus with an emergency hammer, next to a woman holding a baby. He then smashed one of the bus doors. The bus driver, Mohammed Abd al-Hadi, told Ynet the incident happened after he asked the young passengers to stop screaming and vandalising the vehicle. "They insulted me and shouted racist sayings like 'Jew - good, Arab - son of a bitch' and 'death to Arabs'," he said. "A Jewish passenger confronted them, and they started breaking windows on and off the bus, causing panic, screaming and crying among the passengers," the driver said, adding that a woman was injured by the smashed glass. "We've witnessed a lot of things, we suffer from verbal and physical violence, and that's known to everyone," he added, calling on the government to take action to prevent the recurrence of such incidents. read the complete article
Netherlands
Muslims: Dutch ‘Others’
Arnold Yasin Mol, lecturer and doctoral researcher in Islam and Comparative Philosophy, speaks to TRT World about the deeply rooted presence of Islamophobia across Dutch politics, the legal system, and society. While often subtle, this systemic bias has become louder and more explicit through figures like Geert Wilders and his party. Mol also warns of the danger for Muslims to be pushed into a defensive posture, constantly trying to "prove" that Islam is safe. 11) Being Muslim and American in the nation's heartland (United States) The first U.S. mosque built from the ground up in the United States is a white clapboard building on a grassy corner plot, as unassumingly Midwestern as its neighboring houses in Cedar Rapids – except for a dome. The descendants of the Lebanese immigrants who constructed “the Mother Mosque” almost a century ago — along with newcomers from Afghanistan, East Africa and beyond — are defining what it can mean to be both Muslim and American in the nation's heartland just as heightened conflicts in the Middle East fuel tensions over immigration and Islam in the United States. Standing by the door in a gold-embroidered black robe, Fatima Igram Smejkal greeted the faithful with a cheerful “salaam” as they hurried into the Islamic Center of Cedar Rapids for Friday prayers. In 1934, her family helped open what the National Register of Historic Places calls “the first building designed and constructed specifically as a house of worship for Muslims in the United States.” Hundreds of fifth-generation Muslim Iowans, recent refugees and migrants pray on industrial carpets rolled onto the gym’s basketball court — the elderly on walkers, babies in car seats, women in headscarves and men sporting headgear from African kufi and Afghan pakol caps to baseball hats. read the complete article