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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In Australia, police have launched an investigation after a threatening letter was sent to the administrative staff of Lakemba Mosque in Sydney, the country’s largest mosque, while Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said there are links between anti-Muslim comments made by far-right politician Pauline Hanson, and threats of violence targeting Australian Muslims, stating that such rhetoric “legitimizes” and “mainstreams” Islamophobia. Our recommended read of the day is by Kaamil Ahmed for The Guardian on how banking restrictions targeting Muslim-led charities mean many humanitarian projects already affected by aid cuts will not get donations during the major Ramadan giving season. This and more below:
United Kingdom
Charities fear millions in Ramadan giving will not reach crisis zones as UK Muslim groups ‘debanked’ | Recommended Read
Much of the £2bn raised by British Muslims each year comes when giving surges during the holy month, but the full potential of that support – especially at a time of US, British and European government aid cuts – is being limited by challenges charities say they face in sending money abroad. According to a 2025 report on “debanking” by the UK-based coalition, Muslim Charities Forum (MCF), more than two-thirds of Muslim charities face problems opening bank accounts and 42% have been had their banking services completely withdrawn, compared with 12% of charities generally. Most of the charities also reported that aid payments to humanitarian projects had been delayed because of banking issues. The issues stem from “derisking” – policies that banks employ to avoid the risk of falling short of regulations designed to prevent money laundering or terrorism financing. As legislation has tightened, banks have become so averse to risk that some will, directly or tacitly, avoid dealing with countries where there is conflict or disaster. According to MCF, Muslim charities are disproportionately falling foul of these banking policies. Organisations have had to wait up to three years to open a bank account; many have had accounts suddenly closed without explanation or appeal or have faced rigorous questioning about aid payments, particularly going to Palestine, Syria or Pakistan. Muslims donate four times more than the average adult in Britain, according to a report by the thinktank Equi published in December. Much of this during the month of Ramadan, when they believe rewards for giving are multiplied. read the complete article
Australia
Labor MP warns Liberals against chasing One Nation down ‘racist rabbit hole’
Anthony Albanese has linked comments by Pauline Hanson about Muslims to a heightened risk of violence as one of his cabinet ministers warned Liberals against chasing One Nation on immigration, saying “you can’t out-racist Pauline Hanson”. Police are investigating a series of threats received by Lakemba Mosque in Sydney as the holy month of Ramadan begins – including a call to kill worshippers – which came days after Hanson said there were no “good Muslims”. Amid mounting criticism of the comments, the prime minister was asked if there was a link between Hanson’s comments and threats of violence. “Of course there is, because it legitimises it, it mainstreams it,” he told ABC radio. “Pauline Hanson is a divisive figure. She’s made a political career out of seeking to divide Australians against each other. And what we need is more unity, not more division.” read the complete article
No good Muslims? Pauline Hanson has removed her racism fig leaf and mulched it
This week, we might have had our first glimpse. It began on Monday night when Pauline Hanson asked rhetorically, incredulously, “I’m sorry, how can you tell me there are good Muslims?” She wasn’t sorry, of course. At least not until a couple of days later when – having previously dug in – she conceded she didn’t “genuinely believe” what she said. She cited at least one good Muslim: the non-practising Muslim woman who stood as a One Nation candidate. She apologised to certain kinds of good Muslims “if” they were “out there”, but somehow still did it defiantly: it’s the only apology I’ve encountered that includes the words “and I am not going to apologise”. It’s true, this wasn’t a huge departure from what Hanson has always said. Going into the 2016 election, she’d called for a royal commission into Islam. A year later, she declared “Islam is a disease, we need to vaccinate ourselves against that.” Her maiden Senate speech dismissed the idea of embracing “good Muslims”: “How should we tell the difference? … How many lives will be lost or destroyed trying to determine who is good and who is bad?” With this in mind, she’s consistently called for an end to Muslim migration, though in 2007 she said she didn’t have a problem with “Christian Muslims”. But note the (very) subtle difference. Until this point, Hanson hasn’t disputed the existence of “good Muslims” in theory. She’s argued they’re too hard to identify in practice, or reduced them to a literal contradiction in terms. But this week she just came out and said it: they don’t exist; every Muslim you see, hear from, hear about, is an enemy of Australia. She’s taken the fig leaf and mulched it. read the complete article
Australian police investigate fresh threat targeting largest mosque ahead of Ramadan
Australian police said on Thursday they had launched an investigation after a threatening letter was sent to the country’s largest mosque, the third such incident in the lead-up to the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. The letter sent to Lakemba Mosque in Sydney’s west on Wednesday contained a drawing of a pig and a threat to kill the "Muslim race", local media reported. Police said that they had taken the letter for forensic testing, and would continue to patrol religious sites including the mosque, as well as community events. The latest letter comes weeks after a similar message was mailed to the mosque, depicting Muslim people inside a mosque on fire. Police have also arrested and charged a 70-year-old man in connection with a third threatening letter sent to Lakemba Mosque's staff in January. read the complete article
Federal police ‘received reports of a crime’ in relation to Pauline Hanson’s comments about Muslims
Federal police say they have “received reports of a crime” in relation to comments made to the media by Pauline Hanson this week. But an AFP spokesperson did not say whether they had begun a criminal investigation, only that they would have more to say “at an appropriate time”. In response to the news, first reported by Guardian Australia, Hanson said: “They are trying to use Labor’s new hate speech laws to put me back in jail.” Bilal El-Hayek, the mayor of Canterbury Bankstown in western Sydney, said earlier on Friday that the One Nation leader should face charges over her “highly inflammatory” comments about Muslims. read the complete article