Search
SearchToday in Islamophobia: In India, authorities are carrying out a campaign of forcibly expelling Bengali Muslims – stripping citizenship, detaining and deporting them to Bangladesh, meanwhile in the United States, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) is facing mounting criticism for rebuking New York Gov. Kathy Hochul for wearing a headscarf while attending the funeral of slain NYC police officer Didarul Islam inside a city mosque last week, and in France, Rokhaya Diallo writes for The Guardian on how state ministers are giving “old racist tropes” a dangerous new life with the passing of policies and endorsement of ideologies which stigmatize and demonize French Muslims. Our recommended read of the day is by Dorset Eye on how the modern-day far-right has “reordered its hierarchy of hate” from the legacy of 1930s and 1940s antisemitism to today’s rapid rise in systemic Islamophobia. This and more below:
International
From Antisemitism to Islamophobia: How the Far Right Reordered Its Hierarchy of Hate | Recommended Read
In the 1930s and 40s, hatred of Jews was not just one prejudice among many for Europe’s far right, it was the organising principle. Jews were imagined as both omnipotent and parasitic, orchestrating global conspiracies while corrupting nations from within. This narrative underpinned fascist ideology and culminated in genocide. Today, however, while antisemitism has not disappeared, it no longer defines the far right in quite the same way. For many of its adherents, Muslims have taken centre stage as the primary target of fear and resentment. The old hatred lingers in the background; the new one is louder, more visible, and more politically useful. The shift didn’t happen overnight. After the Holocaust, open antisemitism became taboo in much of Western Europe. Far-right movements adapted, often grudgingly. In Britain, the National Front and later the BNP still trafficked in Holocaust denial and fantasies of Jewish control, but they discovered that attacks on immigrants, particularly South Asian Muslims, played better with the public. France’s Front National underwent a similar evolution. Jean-Marie Le Pen had flirted with Nazi nostalgia; his daughter Marine learned to speak the language of “cultural preservation,” reserving her sharpest rhetoric for Muslims. This wasn’t tolerance, but strategy. The post-war immigration wave made that strategy possible. Muslim communities, brought in as labour from former colonies, were more visible than Jews in their cultural and religious expression. Mosques rose where churches stood empty; halal butchers appeared on high streets. Many Muslims settled in poorer urban areas, creating concentrated communities that became easy targets for narratives of segregation and “no-go zones.” Economic inequality fed resentment, but it was cultural difference that the far right seized upon. In this way, Islamophobia became not merely acceptable but mainstream. Social identity theory suggests that in-group cohesion strengthens when there is a clear, threatening out-group. For much of Europe’s modern history, Jews played that role. But Muslims are now perceived as both a visible presence and a symbolic enemy, linked to conflicts abroad and social changes at home. Fear conditioning amplifies this effect: each terrorist attack, though statistically rare, imprints itself deeply on public consciousness, especially when replayed in endless loops on television and social media. read the complete article
Far-right Israeli minister prays at Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site, breaching decades-old agreement
A far-right Israeli minister sparked outrage on Sunday after leading a group of worshippers in prayer at the most sensitive holy site in Jerusalem, despite a decades-old agreement that bars Jews from worshipping there. National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who has previously been convicted for supporting terrorism and inciting anti-Arab racism in Israel, commemorated Tisha B’Av, a Jewish day of mourning, in the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, known to Jews as Temple Mount. On Tisha B’Av, Jews mark the destruction of two ancient temples that once stood on the land. While there, he called for his country to “conquer” Gaza and “encourage” Palestinians to leave the enclave. The complex is the holiest site in Judaism, where Jews face in prayer. It is also the third holiest site in Islam. Anyone can visit the site, but only Muslims are allowed to pray there, according to an understanding known as the ‘status quo agreement,’ which has existed since Israel captured the Old City of Jerusalem from Jordan in 1967. Ben Gvir has visited the complex a number of times before, including on previous Tisha B’Av commemorations, but hasn’t before led a congregation in prayer there. The Palestinian Ministry of Religious Affairs quickly condemned Ben Gvir, calling him an “extremist” and saying that the move “blatantly disregards the sentiments of Muslims across the world, not only in Palestine.” read the complete article
India
Inside India’s expulsion of Bengali Muslims
India is expelling Bengali Muslims – stripping citizenship, detaining and deporting them to Bangladesh. The crackdown has spread nationwide, prompted by years of BJP propaganda and a news media all too willing to sell the story of a Muslim “enemy within”. read the complete article
The Hunt For ‘Bangladeshis’: Thousands Of Muslims Homeless, 2 Months After Vast Gujarat Demolition
In the name of national security, more than 12,500 homes around Ahmedabad’s Chandola Lake were demolished after a crackdown on “illegal Bangladeshis”, leaving thousands of Muslims—many that we met were Indian citizens with valid documents—homeless. Homes were razed without notice, belongings were buried under debris, and children were pulled out of school. While the Gujarat government claimed the operation was aimed at illegal immigrants, the demolitions, detentions, and quiet deportations—mostly affecting Bengali-speaking Muslims—revealed flimsy verification, discriminatory housing laws, and a growing climate of fear. read the complete article
United States
Cruz Criticizes Hochul for Wearing Head Scarf at Slain Officer’s Funeral
As New Yorkers mourned the victims of a mass shooting last week in a Midtown Manhattan office building, Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, inserted himself into the discourse. His comments concerned a photo taken on Thursday of Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York, a Democrat, sitting on a folding chair inside a mosque, next to Mayor Eric Adams. To her left, men in kurtas and police uniforms kneel on a carpeted floor. Governor Hochul wears a dark pantsuit, a somber expression and, on her head, a black scarf looped over her hair. After an anonymous social media user posted the photo and asked — appending an expletive — why the governor was “wearing a hijab,” Mr. Cruz shared the post on Friday and added, “Um, wut?” The photo was taken at the funeral of Didarul Islam, a New York City police officer who was among those killed in the shooting last Monday at 345 Park Avenue. Detective Islam, 36, who was awarded a posthumous promotion, was Muslim, and his hourslong funeral was held at his mosque in the Bronx, with separate viewings for women and men. Before entering, women donned head scarves in accordance with Muslim religious tradition. Many men wore skullcaps. Governor Hochul responded sharply to Mr. Cruz’s post on Saturday, saying that for her, wearing a head covering was a simple matter of honoring the fallen officer. “Respecting a grieving family’s faith is ‘wut’ leaders and anyone with basic decency would do,” she wrote on X. read the complete article
Trump Praises ‘Very Nice’ Loomer as Her Bodycount Grows
Donald Trump has called conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer a “very nice person” as she continues her personal mission to clean house at the Trump Administration. The far-right MAGA loyalist coined the phrase “Loomered” to describe her desire that Biden and Obama holdovers who should lose their jobs in the Trump Administration. So far, her body count includes at least 16 people including assistant federal prosecutor Maurene Comey, National Security Agency directors Timothy Haugh and Wendy Noble, Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, and Jen Easterly, who led the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency under President Biden. Conspiracy theorist Loomer, who is known for anti-Muslim rhetoric and claiming the 9/11 attacks an “inside job,” has also set up an anonymous tip line to help her find people who are disloyal to Trump and get them fired. On Sunday, the president was asked about his relationship with Loomer and the kind of influence she has over him. “She’s very nice,” Trump told reporters of the fringe conspiracy theorist. “I mean, I know she’s known as a ‘radical right,’ but I think Laura Loomer is a very nice person. I’ve known her for a long time.” read the complete article
France
Footballer, journalist, fashionista: whatever French Muslims do, we’re treated as the enemy within
Being a Muslim in a country with a long colonial history, which has also had to deal with terrorist attacks carried out in the name of Islam, is an everyday challenge. In January 2015, for example, I was as profoundly shocked as everyone else in France by the massacre of the Charlie Hebdo journalists in Paris. As the country mourned, I was invited by a major radio station to comment, but was first asked, live on air, to “dissociate” myself from the attackers. I had been critical of Charlie Hebdo’s publications in the past, but my comments always fell within the scope of legitimate political debate. Nevertheless, as a Muslim, I was now treated as if I was under suspicion. In order to be tolerated on the airwaves, I had to profess my innocence: state publicly that I had nothing to do with the violence. This kind of smear tactic is used again and again to discredit any Muslim who calls out Islamophobia. When the footballer Karim Benzema spoke in support of the people of Gaza in October 2023, the then interior minister Gerard Darmanin declared – without a shred of evidence – that the player had “well-known ties to the Muslim Brotherhood”. In May, a report commissioned by the interior ministry into the Muslim Brotherhood fuelled suspicion of all French Muslims by recycling conspiracy theories around supposed “infiltration”. The report was as the the socio-anthropologist Hamza Esmili put it, “intellectually impoverished”. As Esmili argues, French Muslims present a paradox: we are part of every social sphere, yet many of us have not given up our cultural specificities. And that is precisely what we are blamed for – integration without assimilation. This is why the same government can claim it uses the law to fight against Muslim “separatism” while denouncing the threat of Muslim “infiltration”. Muslims can’t win: we are blamed for being part of the national community and for being outside of it. read the complete article
United Kingdom
Some fear it could happen all over again
It started in Southport where three girls - aged six, seven and nine - were brutally murdered at a dance class in the seaside town. Then, fuelled by misinformation about the attacker's identity, anger turned into violence and disorder. It spread across the country. After a mosque was attacked in Southport, Muslims everywhere were on high alert, Fahid Qurashi, who lives in Manchester, recalls. "I remember being outside my local mosque outside prayer time because we heard that people were going to burn it down," he says. "We'd seen in Southport there was an incident where the mosque had been smashed up so we knew we were targets. "It was frightening and scary. People didn't want to go out." But while the days of violence and disorder seemed to be over - and dozens of people across Greater Manchester were swiftly jailed for their part in the riots - the fear among those who had been targeted, particularly Muslims and people of colour, did not go away. Rusholme councillor Rabnawaz Akbar recalls how the initial shock of the Southport attack last year turned into despair and then fear. "Many were reminded of the racism they had faced growing up in the 70s and 80s when the likes of National Front came to the fore," he told the Manchester Evening News. read the complete article