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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In the United Kingdom, Good Morning Britain presenter Adil Ray has revealed he’s received numerous threats, including being told to “watch himself” on the streets, amid a rise in anti-Muslim hate in the country, elsewhere in Britain, the Reform Party Annual Conference is underway complete with bulldozers used to destroy Indian and Palestinian homes and businesses and Islamophobic stereotypes aplenty with some attendees touting conspiracy theories, and lastly in the U.S., Texas attorney general Ken Paxton, currently running for Senate, has made a public statement saying he wants students in public schools to “say the Lord’s Prayer” every morning before the beginning of class. Our recommended read of the day is by Katie Tarrant for The Washington Post on the recently held NatCon, a MAGA-aligned conference where Trump allies—including Steve Bannon—portrayed Britain as a “canary in a coal mine,” warning that mass Muslim migration has made the UK a cautionary tale for the U.S., stirring anti-Muslim rhetoric. This and more below.
United Kingdom
MAGA has a new cautionary tale: England | Recommended Read
Leaders of the MAGA movement have a new warning: Don’t let America become like Britain. That was the howling conclusion at a conference of MAGA-aligned policymakers and think tanks this week in Washington, where elite voices, many with close ties to President Donald Trump, painted a dystopian, misleading and anti-Muslim picture of England as a bastion for dangerous immigrants. Stephen K. Bannon, Trump’s former chief of staff who continues to be an influential adviser, decried the “threat of Islamism in the U.K.,” positioning Britain as a cautionary tale of how mass migration could affect the United States. Others called the former colonial power a frontier in a war over civilization, complaining that Britain’s establishment was too tolerant of Muslim immigrants. “England is heading to a civil war as we speak,” Bannon argued to a warm but sparse crowd at the Westin DC Downtown for the National Conservatism conference, which also heard this week from members of the administration, U.S. senators and leading Republican thinkers. “They have a problem with radical Islam that they have not dealt with,” he said. The warped picture of Britain as a country overrun by a Muslim immigrant population was a thread running throughout the conference. The warnings, though dark, were coupled with praise for the rise of European parties running on anti-Islam and anti-immigration platforms, reflecting the deepening ties between Britain’s hard-right Reform UK Party and the right-wing populists in the U.S. who form the backbone of MAGA. read the complete article
Morning TV presenter subjected to racism and told to ‘watch himself on the streets’
Good Morning Britain presenter Adil Ray has revealed he received ominous threats, including being told to watch himself on the streets, amid a rise in anti-Muslim hate crimes. Ray, who is Muslim, stated that the threats and messages about remigration followed increased scrutiny of asylum seekers and migrants. He highlighted that Muslim politicians have also received violent threats and that Muslims across the UK are experiencing fear, with some scared to leave their homes or attend mosques. Ray noted that mosques, such as the South Essex Islamic Centre and Wirral Deen Centre, have been vandalised or attacked. He expressed concern that no politician seems to be addressing the issue or reassuring the Muslim community about the ongoing hate crimes. read the complete article
'We feel unsafe after attacks on our mosque'
Two attacks on a mosque in Greater Manchester in recent months has left the Muslim community there feeling unsafe, an imam has said. Dr Ibrahim, from Elaf Mosque in Cheadle Heath, Stockport, said two people wearing masks were captured on CCTV throwing large chunks of paving slabs through the mosque's windows just before 03:00 BST on Thursday morning. In April, some attackers threw rubbish and pork meat through the door on to the carpet inside, he said. Officers met with representatives from the mosque and were working to identify the people responsible for the most recent attack, the force added. The mosque's windows were smashed, and large chunks of masonry were strewn over the ground. Dr Ibrahim, who also works as a GP, has called for support from police, the council and the community after the attacks. He said: "We need to live in love and peace, and this is a kind of Islamophobia. "We raised our concerns now about what happened because we don't feel safe in the mosque as Muslims. "We don't know what will happen next time as long as the attackers are free to do whatever [they] want." read the complete article
Reform's Zia Yusuf says Jeremy Corbyn is worse than Tommy Robinson
Reform UK's head of policy, Zia Yusuf, has claimed that former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is worse than far-right anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson. Yusuf made the shocking remarks in an event with Michael Gove, former Conservative cabinet minister and editor of The Spectator magazine, at Reform's annual conference in Birmingham. Gove asked Yusuf whether he thought Corbyn, an independent MP, or Robinson was worse. "Jeremy Corbyn is absolutely the worst," Yusuf responded. The nom-de-guerre of former tanning salon owner Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon, Robinson has, over the past two decades, built a violent street movement focused on intimidating the British-Muslim community and stoking fears of an Islamic takeover of the UK. Robinson said in 2016 that "I'm not far-right…I'm just opposed to Islam. I believe it's backward and it's fascist. "The current refugee crisis is nothing to do with refugees. It's a Muslim invasion of Europe." Corbyn, who led the Labour Party between 2015 and 2020, is today the key figure in the establishment of a new left-wing party that has been heavily critical of Reform. In a recent interview with Middle East Eye, he laid out principles that he said are behind the left-wing party. The first is peace: "Therefore, no bombs to Israel to drop on Gaza, for example." read the complete article
'King Charles is a secret Muslim!': The bizarre things I heard at the Reform party conference
The first thing I noticed as I entered the Reform party's annual conference was just how diverse the attendees were. The long-held stereotype among many left-wing commentators has been that Nigel Farage's supporters are mainly old and male. But as I walked across the main hall I was struck by how packed it was with groups of young men, many wearing flamboyant suits and bow-ties. There were also plenty of women. But there was one major area in which they were all nearly uniform: most of the attendees were white. In recent months, Reform has been shaping the political weather in Britain and those in attendance knew it. The right-wing anti-immigrant party has topped every opinion poll for months and is the leading contender to enter government at the next general election. For some reason, there were large buses in the hall. I counted six in total. There was also a prominently-displayed bulldozer belonging to JCB, a British company whose products are known for being used to destroy the homes of Muslims in India and Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. "We suspect King Charles is a Muslim," Jennifer said. "And a practising one too," she added in horror. David says that "with the amount of Muslims coming in, they're not integrating." "Years ago, they used to integrate," Jennifer noted. "But now they’ve got their own mullahs," David said. "Radicals. They want to introduce sharia law." read the complete article
United States
A Town Reluctantly Let a Mosque Expand. Then Came the Backlash
When a Long Island town last month agreed to settle a lawsuit over a mosque’s plans to upgrade its modest facilities, it appeared to end a seven-year fight in which the town had opposed basic renovations at every turn. Two weeks later, the battle began anew. By Aug. 29, after a fierce, familiar backlash from residents, the Town of Oyster Bay had abruptly backed out of an agreement with the mosque, Masjid Al-Baqi, that would have allowed the demolition of its buildings and the construction of a three-level structure. Lawyers for the mosque blamed a “fresh wave of anti-Muslim agitation.” The now-scuttled deal followed years of opposition to the mosque, at local planning advisory board meetings, in emails to town officials and in posts on social media from residents of Bethpage, a hamlet within Oyster Bay. Some criticism cited concerns about traffic and public safety, but some opponents have also used virulently Islamophobic rhetoric. “There were people who just couldn’t contain their bigotry and racism,” said Muhammad Faridi, a lawyer for the plaintiffs. “This is not a mega mosque.” On Long Island, culture wars have become more common as the area has shifted to the right politically in recent years. The mosque dispute follows a fight over a Native American high school mascot that drew the ire of the Trump administration, as well as an effort by Bruce Blakeman, the Nassau County executive, to antagonize a roller-derby team with a transgender member. read the complete article
Texas attorney general wants students to pray in school – unless they’re Muslim
Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general running for US Senate, has long believed in school prayer. Now, he’s prescribing precisely what type of prayer he wants the state’s 6 million public school students to recite. “In Texas classrooms, we want the Word of God opened, the Ten Commandments displayed, and prayers lifted up,” Paxton said in a statement on Tuesday, encouraging students to say “the Lord’s Prayer, as taught by Jesus Christ”. It is instructive, however, to revisit how Paxton once reacted to a report of Muslim students praying in a Dallas-area school. In 2017, the attorney general’s office published an open letter to the superintendent of schools in Frisco, Texas, expressing “concerns” over Muslim students at Liberty high school using a spare classroom to pray during school hours. “It appears that the prayer room is ‘dedicated to the religious needs of some students’,” the letter stated, quoting an article in the school’s newspaper, “namely, those who practice Islam.” But that article, written by an 11th-grader, made no mention of the room being off-limits to students of other faiths. Rather, the article quotes the principal observing how “the trademark of what makes Liberty High so great” is the “diversity” of the faiths and cultures on campus. Paxton, it seemed, had tried to create a culture-war controversy out of thin air. That Paxton once fearmongered about Muslims praying in class but is now encouraging students to say the Lord’s Prayer is consistent with his particular brand of Christian nationalism or dominionism, which seeks to erode any wall between church and state, establishing a government run according to a far-right interpretation of Christian scripture. read the complete article
International
US imposes sanctions on Palestinians for requesting war crimes inquiry
The US has imposed sanctions against three Palestinian human rights groups that asked the international criminal court (ICC) to investigate Israel over allegations of genocide in Gaza, according to a notice posted to the US treasury department’s website. The three groups – the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, and the Ramallah-based Al-Haq – were listed under what the treasury department said were ICC-related designations. The groups are leading rights monitors in Palestine and have been engaged in documenting alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza over the past 23 months. Sanctions will make it harder for international human rights organisations to cooperate with the groups, and will make day-to-day life more difficult for their employees. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said sanctions were imposed on the rights monitors for having “directly engaged in efforts by the international criminal court to investigate, arrest, detain or prosecute Israeli nationals, without Israel’s consent”. Days earlier, the world’s leading genocide scholars’ association said Israel’s actions in Gaza met the legal definition of genocide, an accusation Israel has denied. read the complete article
India
Contradictory Citizenship Policies Exposes Bias in India’s Immigration Practices
Two contrasting news reports reveal institutional inconsistency in how citizenship rights are identified and protected. A 25-year-old Muslim woman, her husband and child were expelled to Bangladesh from Delhi despite holding multiple documents proving Indian citizenship, while the Ministry of Home Affairs exempted undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh from prosecution under immigration laws if they entered India before Dec. 31, 2024. read the complete article
Netherlands
Muslims: Dutch ‘Others’ - Episode 8: Terror lists
“Being openly Muslim — that is becoming a problem.” Putting Muslims on terror lists just because of their name is another aspect of Islamophobia in the Netherlands, former parliamentarian and co-founder of Islam Experience Centre Joram van Klaveren tells TRT World. read the complete article