Today in Islamophobia

Today in Islamophobia: In the United States, a new film produced by Ben Shapiro’s right-wing media platform The Daily Wire is facing accusations of Islamophobia, with critics saying it attempts to revive the post-9/11 anti-Muslim panic, meanwhile in France, a court has upheld the six-month closure of a mosque near Paris based almost entirely on censorship of Imams from quoting verses in the Quran, and lastly in Canada, an Islamic centre in Gatineau says it has been targeted in a weeks-long Islamophobic hate campaign. Our recommended read of the day is by Chris Hayes for MS Now, who argues that the GOP’s plans for the upcoming midterms is to “flood America with pure hate and demagoguery”. This and more below:

United States

The GOP’s midterm backup plan: Bigotry | Recommended Read

This is how Republicans plan to win the midterms: first and foremost, rig the board with gerrymandering, then sabotage and subvert fair elections through any means at their disposal. But they also have a backup plan. It’s not to make people’s lives better or to bring down prices — it’s to flood America with pure hate and demagoguery. The masks are off. As more candidates emerge from these primaries, you are seeing that hatred play out among Republicans and on right-wing media. They’re spewing the most vile demagoguery they can muster, particularly the disgusting anti-Muslim bigotry and hateful rhetoric that is being whipped up at levels that are through the roof. The vitriol they beta-tested against New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is now all being brought to bear on one candidate in particular: Abdul El-Sayed, who won Michigan’s contentious Democratic Senate primary this week. El-Sayed is a native-born U.S. citizen, a Rhodes scholar and an epidemiologist who is the child of two engineers from Egypt. Since his victory on Tuesday, he has become target No. 1 for Republicans. Both Trump and Vice President JD Vance have launched racist attacks against the Democrat. On Wednesday his Republican opponent, former Rep. Mike Rogers, put out a statement saying he was “running against someone who believes America deserved 9/11,” which is a malicious lie. The National Republican Senatorial Committee called El-Sayed “the most radical candidate in America” and referred to him by his full name, Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed, something it had not done in any previous press releases. It is a torrent of hate. It is beyond anything I can ever remember in the post-9/11 era of Islamophobia. read the complete article

Ben Shapiro’s new 'Infidels' campus movie accused of weaponising Islamophobia against pro-Palestine activism

A new film produced by Ben Shapiro’s right-wing media platformThe Daily Wire is facing accusations of Islamophobia, with critics saying it attempts to revive the post-9/11 anti-Muslim panic and exploits heightened Israel-Palestine tensions to cast Muslims and pro-Palestine activists as a collective "terrorist" threat. Titled Run Hide Fight: Infidels, the film centres on a Delta Force veteran who joins students in fighting what its own promotional material calls "radical Islamic terrorists" after they seize a liberal US college campus and impose "Sharia law". The official synopsis depicts the militants taking over a pro-Palestine protest encampment, establishing a "makeshift caliphate" and executing "infidels" — a premise that fuses a real-world student protest movement with the most enduring tropes of the US-led "war on terror". Jonathan Majors, who plays the veteran Clayton Saunders, tells an audience at the university that Islam will "conquer the West" through "immigration, the wombs of our women", and by exploiting US freedoms — language echoing long-running far-right conspiracy theories about a Muslim demographic takeover. read the complete article

‘Muslim holding public office in US is Trojan horse’: Nancy Mace faces heat over controversial post

Nancy Mace is facing fierce backlash after calling every Muslim holding public office in America a “Trojan horse” and a threat to national security and the republic. Rep. Pramila Jayapal condemned the remarks as “blatant Islamophobia,” while social media users accused Mace of making a bigoted and dangerous statement. The controversial X post has sparked a heated debate over Islamophobia, Muslim representation in U.S. politics, and Nancy Mace’s latest remarks. read the complete article

Senate Republican Condemns GOP Lawmakers' Anti-Muslim Statements

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) on Sunday condemned anti-Muslim statements made by some of his fellow Republicans in the wake of Abdul El-Sayed's win in the Michigan Senate primary last week. During an exchange on "Face the Nation," CBS News' Margaret Brennan asked Cassidy about the Islamophobic posts shared by Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) and Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.). "Are you comfortable here? Does your party need to condemn language like this?" Brennan asked. "I condemn language like that…I condemn those statements, and everybody should be treated as an individual," Cassidy said. El-Sayed has also called out the Islamophobic attacks that have been levied against him, noting that it's "the only play they got." read the complete article

Trump accused of 'Islamophobic attack' over El-Sayed 'two Americas' post

US President Donald Trump has been accused of Islamophobia again after sharing an image contrasting himself and his wife Melania with Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and his wife. The graphic, posted on Trump's Truth Social account following El-Sayed's victory in the Democratic primary for the US Senate in Michigan, showed Trump and Melania in formal evening wear alongside a casual photograph of El-Sayed and his wife Sarah, wearing a hijab, sitting together in a restaurant. Above the images were the words "Two VERY DIFFERENT America's", with "very different" highlighted in red. The graphic also contained a grammatical error, using the possessive "America's" instead of the plural "Americas". It labelled the two couples "Donald J. Trump" and "Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed", prominently using the Democrat's full Arabic name while showing his wife wearing the hijab. Trump offered no further explanation of what he intended the comparison to convey. read the complete article

Trump ally Sen. Tim Scott pressed on Abdul El-Sayed adverts

Senator Tim Scott, who leads the Republican Party's Senate campaign arm, faced questions regarding recent ads highlighting Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed’s full name, Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed. Critics, including Democrats and independent observers, contend that the ads are an Islamophobic tactic, deliberately referencing El-Sayed's Arab-American heritage and Muslim faith. Scott denied the Islamophobia accusation but could not explain the name usage, instead pivoting to label El-Sayed “dangerous” due to alleged sympathy for Hamas and his association with Hasan Piker. El-Sayed stated that the Republican attack lines echoed those used against Barack Obama, specifically noting the deliberate use of his full name. read the complete article

Texas Republicans offer early blueprint of plan to ‘stop Islam’

A ban on the sale of halal foods. Hijabs forbidden in public schools. Required school lessons on the “violence and political domination of Islam.” Some Texas Republicans have offered an early blueprint of a legislative agenda targeting the hundreds of thousands of Muslims in the state with new laws that would make practicing their faith essentially impossible. The plan is part of a broader effort by Republicans to stop what they call the “Islamification of Texas,” a political narrative describing the perceived growth in Muslim influence and communities. Critics, however, called the plan an attack on freedom of speech and religion that has left Muslims and other non-Christians vulnerable to harassment and violence. At a conference this month hosted by the far-right grassroots organization True Texas Project, several Republican lawmakers and activists warned of a “Muslim invasion” that seeks to replace Christians across the country. read the complete article

Canada

Gatineau Islamic centre says it’s been targeted in hate campaign

An Islamic centre in Gatineau says it has been targeted in a weeks-long Islamophobic hate campaign. According to a Thursday evening Facebook post from the Centre Islamique de l’Outaouais, the centre has been subject to threats and a hateful graffiti, and members of the centre have faced online harassment. The centre says there have been multiple instances of “deport Islam” graffiti in the vicinity of the centre. “Despite repeated efforts by the City of Gatineau’s municipal services to erase the graffiti, its perpetrators keep coming back to reproduce it, even going so far as to target one of our center’s premises last weekend,” the Outaouais Islamic Centre wrote in a French-language statement. “This escalation is all the more concerning as it is part of a resurgence of hate acts targeting Muslims and their institutions, in Quebec and elsewhere in Canada.” read the complete article

Edmonton: Same City, Same Islamic Daycare, Two Anti-Muslim Hate Incidents in Two Months, No Answers Yet.

This marks the second time in two months that an Islamic daycare center in Edmonton has been vandalized with hateful graffiti. It is the same Muslim institution and the same location; even the structure targeted for graffiti is identical to the one defaced a month ago. A logical question arises: What happened to the first investigation? What are Edmonton police waiting for—a live bomb to go off, or for an innocent life to be lost—before taking this issue seriously and holding the culprit accountable? read the complete article

France

France shuts mosque over Quran verses and Islamic texts used in Muslim worship

A French court has upheld the six-month closure of a mosque near Paris in a case that has raised fresh concerns over the state's policing of Islamic belief and worship. The Montreuil Administrative Court on Friday rejected an attempt to suspend the July order against the Chanteloup mosque in Aulnay-sous-Bois. The mosque will remain closed until January. Rafik Chekkat, a human rights lawyer representing the mosque, questioned whether imams in France remained free to recite Islam’s sacred text. “In France, can an imam still quote the Quran in the mosque where he preaches?” said Chekkat. Chekkat said the authorities based part of their case on imams “quoting...seven passages from the Quran and references to major works of the Islamic tradition, such as The Garden of the Righteous and The Forty Hadiths.” The authorities also objected to sermons “evoking ‘hell’ and the ‘punishments of the grave’ reserved for ‘unbelievers’”, despite similar teachings forming part of religious preaching in churches and other places of worship. read the complete article

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