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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In the UK, three men were jailed for more than seven years for numerous coordinated fear and intimidation attacks committed last summer against Muslim groups located in Rainham, east London, meanwhile in India, Sept. 13 marked five years of incarceration without bail or trial for Indian activist Umar Khalid, who is detained on terrorism charges that appear politically motivated, and in France, a new survey reveals the extent of discrimination and racism targeting Muslims in the country, with 82 percent of respondents believing that hatred towards them is widespread in the country and 81 percent saying it has increased over the past decade. Our recommended read of the day is by Sharon Zhang for Truthout, who discusses Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent claim that Israel is facing ‘isolation’ globally, while ignoring the actions Israel has taken to isolate itself and instead blaming the wider Muslim world. This and more below:
International
After Bombing 6 Countries This Year, Netanyahu Pins Israeli Isolation on Muslims | Recommended Read
In a rare admission on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel is facing isolation on the world stage after nearly two years of its genocide in Gaza — but didn’t acknowledge his own government’s role in the situation. At the “Fifty States — One Israel” economic conference hosted by Israel’s Finance Ministry, Netanyahu blamed foreign countries and Muslims for Israel’s isolation. He blamed “unlimited immigration to Western European nations by Muslim minorities,” and repeated false, bigoted statements about Muslim populations replacing non-Muslims to become the “majority” in the region. Placing the blame of Israel’s isolation on the existence of Muslims is one of many blatantly Islamophobic statements made by Netanyahu and the state of Israel amid its genocide in Gaza. In his statements, Netanyahu ignores the litany of actions Israel has taken to isolate itself. This year alone, Israel has bombed six countries: Iran, Lebanon, Palestine, Qatar, Syria, and Yemen. Activists also suspect Israel of attacking boats off the coast of Malta and Tunisia. Meanwhile, Israel has carried out a genocide in Gaza, where global food insecurity authorities declared a “man-made” famine as a result of Israel’s near-total blockade last month. This is on top of Israel’s constant bombings, unrepentant massacres of children, and total destruction of life in Gaza; as well as Israel’s ongoing annexation of the occupied West Bank. read the complete article
Netanyahu says Israel 'in isolation', blaming Qatar, China and Muslims in the West
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, has said Israel faces “isolation” on the global stage, blaming it on immigration of Muslims to the West and purported media operations by China and Qatar. “Israel is in a sort of isolation,” Netanyahu said during a finance ministry conference in Jerusalem on Monday. “We will increasingly need to adapt to an economy with autarkic characteristics,” he said, referring to economic self-sufficiency. The comments come after the Israeli genocide in Gaza has prompted several European countries to call for arms embargoes and economic sanctions against Israel. The rare acknowledgement of growing isolation was attributed by the prime minister to “unlimited immigration to Western European nations by Muslim minorities”. “They aren't the majority yet, but a significant, very vocal and combative minority that bends governments. These things affect leaders,” he said. The idea of Muslim minorities bending European governments is not backed up by evidence. Polling earlier this year showed that public support for Israel in European countries had reached its lowest recorded level, with the majority of respondents not sympathetic to Israel. Netanyahu also attributed isolation to alleged efforts by countries “like Qatar and China” to “influence western media with anti-Israel agenda, using bots, artificial intelligence and advertisement”. He cited TikTok as an example. read the complete article
United Kingdom
Legal action threat over using former library as mosque
Three councillors and a resident have threatened legal action over a decision for a former library to be used as a mosque. Monmouthshire council's cabinet agreed to grant a 30-year lease for the empty Abergavenny Library to the Monmouthshire Muslim Community Association in June of this year. Conservative councillors Louise Brown, Rachel Buckler, independent Simon Howarth and local resident John Hardwick have brought about the legal challenge. Monmouthshire County Council confirmed it recieved a pre-action letter and said it cannot provide further comment to an ongoing legal matter. The four are being supported by the Christian Legal Centre after contacting advocacy body Christian Concern, according the Local Democracy Reporting Service. read the complete article
UK faces ‘fight of our times’ against toxic division shown in far-right rally, says Starmer
The UK faces “the fight of our times” against the division exemplified by the Tommy Robinson-led far-right march in London on Saturday, Keir Starmer has told his cabinet in a robust if arguably belated response to the scenes in the capital. Starmer made the comments at Tuesday morning’s meeting of his cabinet, Downing Street said. No 10 extended the criticism to Elon Musk, saying many Britons, particularly from minority backgrounds, would have felt intimidated by “calls to violence from foreign billionaire”. About 110,000 people took part in what was possibly the largest far-right protest in UK history. As well as a speech from Robinson, the anti-Islam activist, the event heard via video link from Musk, the X owner, who said that “violence is coming” and told the crowd that “you either fight back or you die”. According to a summary of the cabinet meeting, Starmer told his ministers “that some of the scenes of police officers being attacked on Saturday, and a march led by a convicted criminal, were not just shocking but sent a chill through the spines of people around the country, and particularly many ethnic minority Britons”. It continued: “He said we are in the fight of our times between patriotic national renewal and decline and toxic division. He said the government must heed the patriotic call of national renewal, and that this was a fight that has to be won.” read the complete article
Men left pigs heads outside Muslim community buildings
Three men were jailed after they left pig heads outside buildings used by Muslim groups. The attacks, which included graffiti that read “no mosques”, took place in Rainham, east London, in July last year. Harvey Wells, 21, Josh Campbell, 34, and James Desbois, 30, were jailed for more than seven years in total, after they “deliberately and strategically” targeted buildings used by Muslims. Wells left the animal remains outside the Rainham Village Children’s Centre, the Royal Youth Community Centre and Harris Academy. He also sprayed the walls of the premises with the words “no mosques” on July 25 last year. The three venues were frequented by the Muslim community, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard. read the complete article
Far Right Protest: 'PM Must Condemn Anti-Muslim Hate'
Up to 150,000 people took to the streets of London over the weekend for a 'Unite the Kingdom' march led by Far Right convict Tommy Robinson. Former senior member of the National Front, Matthew Collins, explains that putting up flags 'isn't going to deal with the issues', whilst Baroness Gohir says the government aren't doing enough to stop the rhetoric. read the complete article
'Relentless': How UK Lawyers for Israel targets pro-Palestinian voices
When academics Ghazala Mir and Tarek Younis agreed to speak about Islamophobia in an online event hosted by a leading UK mental health association, the last thing they expected was to be de-platformed. In August 2024, Mir, a professor at the University of Leeds medical school, and Younis, a senior lecturer in psychology at Middlesex University, were invited by the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP), the UK’s leading professional body for cognitive and behavioural psychotherapists, to deliver a webinar to therapists on Islamophobia and mental health. "Our plan was to engage in a meaningful dialogue on the impact of Islamophobia, and to highlight the importance of ensuring our mental health services don’t worsen the traumas already experienced by Muslim patients," said Younis, who is also a clinical psychologist. After the BABCP began advertising the event, a member and a non-member filed a complaint, accusing the association of promoting extreme left-wing propaganda. BABCP initially found no grounds to remove the article. But when the pro-Israeli UK Lawyers for Israel group, or UKLFI, complained with a 23-page dossier listing pro-Palestine social media posts made by Younis and Mir, the matter escalated further. The dossier alleged that Younis and Mir had shared antisemitic content - allegations that both academics firmly deny. BABCP took down the article, and the organisation's CEO apologised for referencing the situation in Gaza as a “genocide”. But UKLFI did not stop there. It then lodged further complaints against the two academics with their respective professional bodies. "We were both subjected to complaints," said Younis. "It was clear this wasn’t just about a blog post anymore." read the complete article
India
Indian Activist Passes Five Years in Pretrial Detention
Sept. 13 marked five years of incarceration without bail or trial for Indian activist Umar Khalid, who is detained on terrorism charges that appear politically motivated. On Sept. 2, the Delhi High Court denied his bail plea again, alongside that of others. Khalid challenged the decision and appealed to the Indian Supreme Court, which voted on Thursday to defer a hearing on the matter. Khalid, now 38, came of age as a student activist during a period of steep democratic decline in India. This period—beginning as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power—was marked by increasing attacks on free speech and press freedom, opaque political funding, weakened electoral oversight, legal targeting of critics and opponents, and rising hate crimes against minorities. Khalid became a powerful symbol of dissent, especially for Indian Muslims. He was arrested in what was widely seen as an attempt to silence Muslim activists protesting the 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which created a pathway to Indian citizenship for some persecuted religious minorities from neighboring countries but excluded Muslims. Khalid’s continued detention—and that of other Muslim activists who opposed the controversial law—sends a message that in today’s India, Muslim dissent is punished indefinitely. For India’s Muslim community, the Modi era has been a dark chapter. In recent years, Muslims have faced mob lynchings by Hindu vigilantes on the suspicion of transporting cattle for slaughter, authorities have ignored anti-Muslim hate rallies, and calls for social and economic boycotts of Muslims and Muslim-owned business have become more common. Denying bail to Khalid and other Muslim activists despite clear legal precedent and their long pretrial detention goes beyond a setback for the detainees: It signals a frightening unwillingness of the judiciary to stand up to power in its most basic duty. read the complete article
France
Eight out of 10 Muslims experience 'widespread' hatred in France, survey says
A new survey reveals the extent of discrimination and racism targeting Muslims in France, with 82 percent of respondents believing that hatred towards them is widespread in the country and 81 percent saying it has increased over the past decade. Conducted by polling company Ifop among a representative sample of a thousand Muslims living in the country, the survey published on Tuesday was commissioned by the recently launched Observatory of Discrimination Against Muslims in France. It shows that two-thirds (66 percent) of respondents have experienced racist behaviour in the past five years - a rate far higher than among the French population as a whole (20 percent) and people from other religions (18 percent). Racist acts are more frequent towards women wearing the hijab (75 percent), people under 25 (76 percent), Muslims with a strong accent (over 81 percent) or with sub-Saharan origin (84 percent). Furthermore, two out of three Muslims living in France say they have already been victims of some form of religious discrimination. This happens mostly during a job search (51 percent), police checks (51 percent) and when they look for housing (46 percent). Even public services, which are "supposed to embody state neutrality", according to Ifop, are places of "normalised discrimination". According to the study, 36 percent of respondents say they have been victims of discrimination by public administration officials, healthcare professionals (29 percent) or school teachers (38 percent). read the complete article
United States
The roots of Trump's wars on terror trace back to 9/11
The U.S. military recently launched a plainly illegal strike on a small civilian Venezuelan boat that President Trump claims was a successful hit on “narcoterrorists.” Vice President JD Vance responded to allegations that the strike was a war crime by saying, “I don’t give a shit what you call it,” insisting this was the “highest and best use of the military.” This is only the latest troubling development in the Trump administration’s attempt to repurpose “War on Terror” mechanisms to use the military against cartels and to expedite his much vaunted mass deportation campaign, which he says is necessary because of an "invasion" at the border. Unfortunately, more than two decades of widely-accepted, bipartisan laws and norms first laid the groundwork for this to occur. After 9/11, the Bush administration created the Specially Designated Global Terrorists list, and Congress expanded the pre-existing Foreign Terrorist Organization list. These lists allow the executive branch, at its sole discretion, to add and remove individuals and groups to standing lists of “terrorists,” a term that is defined broadly. The Trump administration has exercised this authority to formally designate transnational cartels as “terrorists” due in part to their role in the flow of people and drugs across the southern border into the United States. They have leveraged this designation to justify a range of actions, including deploying troops to Los Angeles and deporting immigrants to a brutal Salvadorean prison without due process. Another post-9/11 legal invention that paved the way to what the Trump administration is doing today was the USA PATRIOT Act’s updates to immigration law that allowed deportation of not just those involved in actual violent acts of terrorism, but also those loosely associated with designated “terrorist groups,” even if those associations were peaceful and law-abiding or involuntary and a result of duress. read the complete article