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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In the United Kingdom, Police in London and Manchester are to be given an extra £5m to pay for more patrols around places of worship following rising antisemitic and Islamophobic attacks, meanwhile in the United States, State Department officials and Trump Administration spokespeople are working hard to shift Western governments away from efforts to prevent the spread of far-right terrorism towards a need to “combat antifa”, and lastly, Congressman Al Green (D-TX) introduced a resolution condemning a recent hateful, Islamophobic post made by Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN). Our recommended read of the day is by Shadi Hamid for The Washington Post, who argues that Muslim Americans’ right to be in the US shouldn’t depend on their “willingness to converge with the cultural mainstream. It shouldn’t depend on anything.” This and more below:
United States
Muslims shouldn’t have to assimilate to belong | Recommended Read
There is a reflex that kicks in when someone questions whether you belong. You start assembling evidence. You cite your credentials and your patriotism. When Rep. Andrew Ogles (R-Tennessee) declared last month that “Muslims don’t belong in American society,” I noticed this reflex in myself. I wanted to prove I belonged, for those who believed that I didn’t. I suspect many Muslim Americans did the same. We have gotten good at this over the years — too good. The assimilation defense — look how well we’ve integrated — is satisfying to make. But it concedes a premise I no longer accept: that a minority community’s right to be in the United States depends on its willingness to converge with the cultural mainstream. It shouldn’t depend on that. It shouldn’t depend on anything. But there’s something else going on that makes the picture messier. On the questions where Muslim Americans remain religiously conservative — sexuality, gender identity and family structure — their views don’t diverge much from the Republican base. They haven’t assimilated as much as liberals might like. You’d think Republicans would sense an electoral opportunity. This is a community that has increasingly integrated into American civic life, but it has done so while holding on to its religious commitments in a way that most other groups haven’t. Whether you think that's admirable or worrying probably says more about you than it does about them. The question I keep returning to is: Why do Muslims need to be like everyone else? read the complete article
Congressman Al Green Introduces a Resolution Condemning the Hateful and Islamophobic Post of Representative Andy Ogles
On Thursday, April 9, 2026, Congressman Al Green introduced a resolution condemning the hateful, Islamophobic post made on March 9, 2026, by Representative Andy Ogles, stating, “Muslims don’t belong in American society. Pluralism is a lie.” His mean-spirited, exclusionary statement targets Muslims and rejects the principle of pluralism in America. A copy of the resolution can be accessed by clicking here. The resolution affirms that the United States is a country founded on documents grounded in the concepts of religious freedom, equality, and pluralism, and reflects our ongoing effort to strive toward a more perfect union, as envisioned in the Constitution. It rejects hateful rhetoric that seeks to exclude individuals based on their faith and makes clear that efforts to divide Americans along religious lines are inconsistent with the protections guaranteed by the First Amendment. read the complete article
U.S. Pushes Allies to Chase a New Terrorism Target: The Far Left
When senior Western officials met in Ottawa last month to discuss potential terrorism threats in light of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, a top State Department counterterrorism official delivered an unexpected message. The United States was as concerned as always about Islamist terrorism, said the official, Monica A. Jacobsen, according to a copy of her prepared remarks reviewed by The New York Times and three officials briefed on the meeting. But, she told her counterparts from Europe, Canada and Australia, the Trump administration also wanted more attention on what it believed was an insidious, underestimated threat: the far left. Western governments must combat “antifa and far-left terrorism,” Ms. Jacobsen’s prepared remarks asserted, casting the effort as an evolution in counterterrorism following the “global war on terror.” Her prepared speech defined far-left terrorism to include threats from communists, Marxists, anarchists, anticapitalists and those with “eco-extremist” and “other self-identified antifascist ideologies.” Ms. Jacobsen’s appeals were part of a sweeping new effort by the White House to press foreign governments and embassies abroad to join its fight against what it calls far-left terrorists. The Trump administration is deploying its global counterterrorism machine against far-left movements like antifa — shorthand for “antifascist” — despite offering little evidence they present a dire threat to U.S. citizens. read the complete article
India
‘We’re new miyas’: Will BJP naming some Assamese Muslims ‘Indigenous’ work?
Akram Ali stood by the ruins of his four-room house under the scorching April heat, sifting through the debris where his life once stood. “This was my home built more than 45 years ago,” Ali, 50, said, his eyes tearing up. “Now it’s all rubble.” On the morning of March 14, bulldozers descended on Islampur, a predominantly Muslim neighbourhood in Bongora on the outskirts of Guwahati, the main city in the northeastern Indian state of Assam. For the next four hours, more than three dozen bulldozers razed down homes, including Ali’s, rendering 400 families homeless from 177 hectares (437 acres) of land allegedly protected for Assam’s Indigenous people under a state government law. “I am Goriya, son of the soil, but my home was still flattened,” Ali said. “It was my entire life’s hard work.” The Goriyas are an Assamese-speaking Muslim community mostly settled in the tea belt of eastern Assam. They are one of the five subgroups of Muslim communities – along with Moriya, Syed, Deshi and Julha – recognised by the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as native or Indigenous to the state in 2022. These communities have enjoyed relative safety over their cultural and ethnic identity, being distinct from the Bengali-speaking Muslims, who for decades have been labelled “outsiders”, “infiltrators” or “illegal migrants” – even though most of these families have lived in Assam for several generations. read the complete article
Pig politicisation isn’t unique to Delhi’s Tri Nagar. It’s a worldwide anti-Muslim strategy
Religion, politics and pigs all came together in a Delhi neighbourhood recently, such that it would leave one scratching their head. According to the report, Hindu families in Tri Nagar—home to over 70 Muslim households—were worshipping pigs, often caged, alongside images of Varaha, the boar-headed Hindu deity. Was it simply an act of devotion or a not-so-subtle political message to Muslim families? The debate is unfolding on social media. Both sides, unsurprisingly, have their own accounts. The Hindu families maintain that it is an expression of belief. Residents from the Muslim community, however, allege that the act is provocative, pointing out that pigs are given Muslim names such as Sultan or Abdul. Neither Delhi nor India are alone in their newfound love for pigs. Last month, MAGA supporters in New York organised a pig roast in front of Muslim mayor Zohran Mamdani’s office. The pig politicisation saga smuggles destructive communalism under the guise of spiritual practice. The veneer is especially thin in this particular instance, even if the provocation is not unique to Delhi or Hindus. It’s a well-practised strategy being deployed around the world. read the complete article
United Kingdom
Extra £5m pledged for patrolling places of worship
Police in London and Manchester are to be given an extra £5m to pay for more patrols around places of worship, the Home Office has said. Security minister Dan Jarvis said the money would help "keep people safe in the places where they live, work and worship". The funding uplift follows an alleged arson attack in Golders Green, north-west London, where four Jewish community ambulances were set alight last month, a terror attack on a synagogue in Manchester last October and calls to tackle rising Islamophobia. read the complete article
Network Rail admits failings in race case
Network Rail has admitted it "could and should have done better" after an employment tribunal found a worker was racially harassed by colleagues. The tribunal, held in Southampton, heard Parmjit Bassi was targeted with an anti-Islam leaflet and a false stabbing accusation left in his work boots. It ruled he was subjected to an "ongoing campaign" of harassment while working at the Eastleigh depot, in Hampshire, and that Network Rail took a "laissez-faire" approach and failed to intervene as the situation escalated. The organisation said it was committed to learning from the experience and improving the "diversity and inclusivity" of its workforce. read the complete article