Search
SearchToday in Islamophobia: In Sweden, a mosque in Stockholm was targeted in a racist attack, with mosque officials saying a defaced copy of the Qur’an was discovered at the site, meanwhile in Australia, Queensland police are investigating offensive graffiti, including a Nazi symbol, which was spray-painted onto a wall of a Brisbane mosque, and in the United States, the New York City Council Committee on Standards and Ethics voted to look into the conduct of Republican Council Member Vickie Paladino over Islamophobic remarks she made on social media last weekend. Our recommended read of the day is by Yousra Samir Imran for Hyphen, which highlights concerns about Islamophobia on social media and outlines actions Muslim parents can take to support their children. This and more below:
United Kingdom
What to say to our children if they come across Islamophobic content online | Recommended Read
Research from the children’s commissioner for England in 2022 found that 45% of kids aged eight to 17 have come across harmful content that made them worried or upset. In July, the government implemented new laws as part of the Online Safety Act requiring platforms to protect children online. Still, there will always be risks. And in a year that has seen record levels of Islamophobia and growing far-right movements on our streets, we as Muslim parents have the added worry that our children might stumble across anti-Muslim hatred online. Dr Sofia Rehman, Islamic scholar and visiting research fellow at the University of Leeds, believes it is never too early to have an age-appropriate conversation with your children. “We want to come from a place that is informed rather than scared,” she says. “What you want to do is pass on to your children the tools, skills and ability to navigate situations of Islamophobia, rather than pass on the idea of shrinking themselves or seeing themselves as the perpetual victim.” One of those tools is media literacy — learning how stories are made, how algorithms are formed and how bias shows up in social media. This helps children form critical awareness of Islamophobic content instead of internalising it. Rehman adds that when our children develop media literacy skills, they are less likely to internalise Islamophobic messages and blame themselves or their community. In addition, they allow our children to respond to hateful messaging with confidence, clarity and an understanding that Islamophobia is a systemic issue. read the complete article
‘We’ve got more in common than what divides us’: a Muslim-Jewish kitchen in Nottingham counters hate and hunger
This is the Salaam Shalom kitchen, known as SaSh, a joint Muslim-Jewish project set up in 2015, and based on one of the core tenets of both faith groups: bringing people together through food. It also draws on a north Indian tradition of community meals, with food prepared collectively and duties shared across the village, Sajid Mohammed, director of the Muslim-led social justice initiative Himmah, explains. Although at leadership level Muslims and Jews had been working together on interfaith projects for years, when it came to “the congregations, the community groups, families, parents, children, our communities were not connected,” the charity leader explains. It just so happened that Himmah had already been considering setting up a hot meal provision in Hyson Green, home to Nottingham’s largest ethnic minority population – and also home to a historic Jewish cemetery. It seemed like the perfect project with which to bring both faith communities together, with Mohammed recruiting in volunteers from Himmah, and Sakhnovich from the synagogue, to provide a service that “demonstrates our shared values of dignity, justice and service to our communities,” he says. SaSh is being supported by advocacy group Hope Not Hate’s charity arm, Hope Unlimited, one of the recipients of this year’s Guardian charity appeal. The charity believes that community-led initiatives can provide hopeful alternatives to extremist hate. Mohammed says the war in Gaza, along with Brexit and the UK’s cost of living crisis, have created “fertile land” for people with deep political agendas to push ideas. “I don’t think British people are intrinsically racist,” he says, arguing instead for creating spaces where dialogue can happen and people can share their hopes and dreams so they realise “we’ve got so much more in common than what divides us”. Building community bonds, he adds, “is the herd immunity that will protect us from the virus of fascism”. read the complete article
United States
Council Ethics Commitee opts to look into Paladino’s anti-Muslim rhetoric
The New York City Council Committee on Standards and Ethics voted Thursday to look into the conduct of Republican Council Member Vickie Paladino over Islamophobic remarks she made on social media last weekend, according to a source familiar with the discussions. Paladino is known for her provocative, often offensive rhetoric on social media, but her statements over the weekend were even more widely condemned than usual. “We’re in the midst of a global jihad the likes of which the world has never seen, and we cannot ignore it,” Paladino wrote in response to a deadly antisemitic terror attack targeting a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, Australia. “We need to take very seriously the need to begin the expulsion of Muslims from western nations, or at the very least the severe sanction of them within western borders.” That tweet garnered a wave of criticism from many of her colleagues, including outgoing City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams. While Paladino eventually deleted the post on Monday afternoon after Menin asked her to do so, she doubled down on the offensive rhetoric throughout the week. In an op-ed published Wednesday in the Queens Jewish Link, Paladino called for mass deportations of “radical Muslims and those who support them” and the development of a legal framework for denaturalization. read the complete article
Anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian narratives don’t fit; nevertheless they persist
I don’t want to give far-right conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer any ideas. But I do wonder if she’ll soon proclaim that Nick Reiner was wearing a keffiyeh and a “Free Palestine” T-shirt when he allegedly killed his actor-director father, Rob Reiner, and photographer mother, Michele Singer Reiner, in the couple’s Los Angeles home. Loomer cranked up the lies and vitriolic takes following the deadly stabbings and equally horrific mass shootings that took place at Brown University and Australia’s Bondi Beach a week ago. Loomer is still sticking with the Muslim perpetrator angle and brushing off that one of the two Brown University students who died was a Muslim. Loomer and other extremists are eager to keep pointing fingers at Muslims in the wake of the Bondi Beach massacre that claimed the lives of 15 people, including a 10-year-old girl, a Holocaust survivor and a rabbi. One would think the headlines about the Muslim Syrian immigrant disarming the younger alleged shooter would give Islamophobes pause. But bigots’ brains don’t work that way. To save themselves from the indignity of crediting a Muslim for saving Jewish lives, Loomer and company have insisted the hero in the Hanukkah massacre is a Maronite Christian, in spite of Ahmed al-Ahmed’s relatives’ confirmation of his Islamic faith. read the complete article
The neocons were wrong about war but right about Muslims
The neoconservatives led us into one of the great blunders of American history. The Iraq War still looms large over American politics, even as it’s been largely memory-holed. The election of Barack Obama was, in part, a reaction to the excesses and militarism of the George W. Bush administration. The rise of Donald Trump was, in part, a reaction to Obama. Trump, even if he wasn’t initially, became a vocal opponent of the Iraq War and rendered the neoconservative faction of the Republican Party irrelevant. Neoconservatism of this sort is dead, and for good reason. It failed. At the same time, when I look at the current crop of Republican leaders and their apparent disregard for American ideals and Christian morality, I can’t help but look with some nostalgia at the Republicans of old. Last week, referring to “mainstream Muslims,” Trump ally Rep. Randy Fine (R-Florida) said “I don’t know how you make peace with those who seek your destruction. I think you destroy them first.” After the terrorist attack in Australia that took the lives of 15 people during a Hanukkah celebration, Fine doubled down, calling for “deportations of all mainstream Muslim legal and illegal immigrants, and citizenship revocations wherever possible. Mainstream Muslims have declared war on us. The least we can do is kick them the hell out of America.” Not to be outdone, Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville declared “Islam is not a religion. It’s a cult. Islamists aren’t here to assimilate. They’re here to conquer. … We’ve got to SEND THEM HOME NOW or we’ll become the United Caliphate of America.” Republican leaders, including Trump, have shown no interest in criticizing this upsurge of anti-Muslim vitriol within their ranks. Instead, in saying and doing nothing, they have normalized it. Contrast this with how President George W. Bush talked about Muslims after Sept. 11. Visiting the Islamic Center of Washington six days after the deadliest terrorist attack in American history, Bush quoted from the Quran and declared “the face of terror is not the true faith of Islam.” He defended Muslim women who wore hijabs, insisting they “must feel comfortable going outside their homes” and condemning those who would harass them as representing “the worst of humankind.” Days later, addressing a joint session of Congress, he stated unequivocally: “The enemy of America is not our many Muslim friends.” This is the through line in today’s Republican Party: Muslims are a threat at home. They are a threat to Europe. And they must be managed and kept in line in the Middle East by dictators. This is the new morality, which is to say no morality at all. read the complete article
International
After Bondi Beach attack, 'intifada' chants face restrictions in Australia and the U.K.
Authorities in Britain and Australia are tightening restrictions on pro-Palestinians protests in response to the Islamic State-inspired Bondi Beach massacre targeting a Jewish gathering that killed 15 people. In New South Wales, the Australian state where the deadly attack on a Hanukkah celebration took place, police will be granted expanded powers to shut down unauthorized protests, while tougher hate speech laws will be introduced, including a proposed ban on the slogan “globalize the intifada.” The move comes shortly after U.K. police arrested two people in London on racially aggravated public order charges for allegedly shouting slogans invoking “intifada” at a pro-Palestinian demonstration. The new restrictions are part of a nationwide policing shift in response to the attack, which has drawn concern from some civil liberties and free-speech advocates. The Arabic word "intifada" is generally translated as "uprising" and is used to describe two major Palestinian uprisings in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip against Israeli occupation, the first beginning in 1987 and the second in 2000, both characterized by periods of violence as well as nonviolent mass protests. Supporters say the term “globalize the intifada,” which has been used for years at pro-Palestinian protests worldwide, refers to international solidarity against Israeli occupation. read the complete article
Tommy Robinson’s visit to UAE sparks backlash, calls for his deportation
Outrage has spread online after infamous Islamophobe Tommy Robinson appeared in the UAE, with many onlookers urging local Arab authorities to arrest and deport the anti-Islam activist over his blasphemous insults of the Holy Prophet Muhammad. read the complete article
Top UN court sets January hearings in Rohingya Muslims genocide case against Myanmar
The International Court of Justice will hear a landmark case accusing Myanmar of committing genocide against its minority Muslim group, the Rohingya, on January 12-29, the United Nations' top court said on Friday. The proceedings are expected to set precedents that could affect South Africa’s case against Israel over the war in Gaza, as this will be the first genocide case the ICJ has heard on its merits in more than a decade. In the first week of the hearings, Gambia, a predominantly Muslim West African country, will outline its case from January 12 to 15. Backed by the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation, Gambia filed the case at the ICJ in 2019, accusing Myanmar of committing genocide against the Rohingya. Myanmar, which has denied genocide, can present its side from January 16 to January 20. read the complete article
Sweden
Racist attack targets Stockholm mosque, copy of Quran defaced
A racist attack has targeted the Stockholm Mosque in Sweden, with mosque officials saying a defaced copy of the Muslim holy book was discovered at the site. In a statement on Sunday, the mosque’s administration said that a copy of the Holy Quran, with six bullet holes, was found chained to the railings of the stairs. Mahmud al Halefi, chairman of the Stockholm Mosque, said that Islamophobic and racist attacks have been increasing day by day in Sweden. He noted that police have launched an investigation and that the incident has sparked strong reactions within the Muslim community. Condemning the attack, Halefi said: “A copy of the Quran was chained to the railing next to the stairs leading to the mosque, and it had six bullet holes. There were also messages written in Arabic and Swedish on the Quran saying, ‘Thanks for the visit, but it’s time to go home.’ We perceived this message as an explicit racist statement targeting Muslims.” Halefi stressed that the act was deeply offensive and part of a broader pattern of anti-Muslim hatred, calling on authorities to take firm measures against hate crimes and ensure the safety of religious communities. read the complete article
Australia
Queensland police investigating Nazi symbol and offensive words graffitied on Brisbane mosque
Queensland police are investigating offensive graffiti, including a Nazi symbol, which was spray-painted onto a wall of a Brisbane mosque. Offensive words including "F**k Allah" and "No Muslims = peace" were written on the wall of the Bald Hills Mosque in Brisbane's north. Police said initial information indicated an unknown person had graffitied the building between 8pm on Wednesday and 3am on Thursday, December 18. read the complete article