Search
SearchToday in Islamophobia: In the United States, a group of Palestinian Americans trapped in Gaza have sued the Biden administration, alleging it has abandoned them and their families, meanwhile in Germany, the suspect in the German car-ramming attack that killed five and injured more than 200 on Friday has been identified as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, an individual who holds strong anti-Muslim and anti-immigration views, and lastly, it’s been revealed that Saudi officials repeatedly warned Germany about Taleb al-Abdulmohsen citing concerns about the suspect’s radical views, including islamophobia. Our recommended read of the day is by The New Arab on the just-released European Islamophobia Report 2023, which found that Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza has functioned as a ‘geopolitical catalyst of anti-Muslim racism in Europe’. This and more below:
International
Israel's war on Gaza linked to rising Islamophobia in Europe: report | Recommended Read
A report on Saturday has revealed that Israel's ongoing military actions in Gaza have led to a significant increase in Islamophobia across Europe. The European Islamophobia Report 2023 looked at anti-Muslim sentiment in 28 European countries, finding that the war on the besieged Palestinian enclave had "functioned as a geopolitical catalyst of anti-Muslim racism in Europe". The findings asserted that Islamophobia had manifested through "systemic discrimination, political rhetoric, media narratives, and societal attitudes", which was exacerbated by events like Israel's war on Gaza. The report said the reaction of the European governments had "intensified Islamophobic rhetoric and actions", as well as framing pro-Palestinian solidarity as "terrorism" and challenging calls for a ceasefire. It said that French President Emmanuel Macron's "pro-Israel" statements following the 7 October attacks had exacerbated institutional racism against Muslims. To address the rise and awareness of anti-Muslim rhetoric, the United Nations General Assembly announced that 15 March would be the "International Day to Combat Islamophobia". Of the 28 countries in the report, only Spain had observed the day in 2023. The report also highlighted the role of far-right parties exploiting Islamophobia for political gains with the legal systems in countries like France and Finland passing policies targeting Islamic practices like banning religious attire and the media’s role in perpetuating Islamophobic stereotypes and narratives where Muslims are dehumanised. read the complete article
Saudi Arabia warned Germany for years about Magdeburg attack suspect
Saudi Arabia says it repeatedly warned Germany about Taleb al-Abdulmohsen - the suspect who drove a car into a Christmas market in Germany, where at least five people were killed. Saudi officials first reportedly warned Germany in 2007, citing concerns about the suspect’s radical views, including islamophobia, according to CNN. Saudi security officials told German media they had warned the Berlin authorities of the alleged attacker three times and requested extradition, which was refused over concerns for his safety. According to German newspaper Die Welt, the state and federal police had carried out a "risk assessment" on the suspect last year but found he posed "no significant danger". At the same time, a source close to the Saudi government told the BBC that the country had sent four warnings to Germany over al-Abdulmohsen's "very extreme views", which were allegedly ignored. read the complete article
Hindu Nationalism Poses a Threat to Democracy (and to Muslims) in Both India and the US
While rising anti-Muslim violence and sentiment in India has been making global news since Hindu nationalist prime minister Narendra Modi’s first election in 2014, many don’t realize that such policies and attitudes also harm American Muslims. Like many other religious ethnonationalist movements, Hindu nationalism claims a hyperlocal focus, but—as a recent Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) survey shows—its ideology is spreading worldwide through online platforms and diaspora networks. Hindu nationalism (or Hindutva) is a Hindu supremacist ideology that insists India is first and foremost a state for Hindus. Hinduism has never been a monolith: the British Raj consolidated a massive cluster of related-but-distinct ways of being into a single unified religious identity now known as “Hinduism,” and Hindu nationalism has been criticized as a British imperial construct. India’s own constitution clearly forms India as a secular state. And a number of organizations like Hindus for Human Rights and its affiliates advocate for pluralism and equity in South Asia and North America. At the same time, India’s current prime minister and his political party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), are Hindu nationalists and have handily won the world’s largest democratic elections thrice since 2014. Under their leadership, India has seen increased hostility and violence toward religious minorities, especially Muslims, who comprise the single largest religious minority group in India. The BJP is far from unique in its ethnonationalism and religious nationalism, both of which are on the rise globally as right-wing politicians define their citizenry in increasingly exclusive and exclusionary ways. Indian immigrants, the largest immigrant population in the world, are also the largest and fastest growing migrant group in the US.¹ Hindu nationalist ideology (and specifically its trademark anti-Muslim hostility) therefore has direct bearing on the landscape of both global and US religious intolerance. In the US, attempts to challenge Hindu nationalism are so often met with accusations of “Hinduphobia,” which scholars have criticized as a “smokescreen” for religious ethnonationalism. Any attempt to understand religious diversity and religious intolerance in the US—especially of Muslims —requires an understanding of this ideology. read the complete article
United States
Palestinian Americans trapped in Gaza sue Biden administration
A group of Palestinian Americans trapped in Gaza have sued the Biden administration, alleging it has abandoned them and their families, leaving them trapped in a war zone despite rescuing “similarly situated Americans of different national origins”. The plaintiffs – Khalid Mourtaga, Salsabeel ElHelou, Sahar Harara, Sawsan Kahil, Marowa Abusharia, Mohanad Alnajjar, Mariam Alrayes, Heba Enayeh and Samia Abualreesh – are all either US citizens, legal permanent residents or their immediate relatives. All have been approved by the US state department to leave the territory, but have been unable to since their names were left off the department’s final crossing list for the Rafah border located on the Egypt–Palestine border which closed on 6 May. The lawsuit, which directly names Joe Biden; the secretary of state, Antony Blinken; and the secretary of defense, Lloyd J Austin III, points to instances when the US took action to evacuate Israeli Americans and their families shortly after Hamas’s 7 October attacks and Lebanese Americans and their families in September of this year. read the complete article
How Biden's plan to 'combat Islamophobia' whitewashes US state violence
On 12 December, the White House released a strategy guide to combat Islamophobia and anti-Arab hate. The White House strategy guide is simply the latest manifestation of the Biden administration's superficial and mostly symbolic engagement with Muslim communities. It deliberately treats both hate crimes and state violence as aberrations from the norm, thus allowing for a particular set of policy interventions that ignore root causes and fail to address the problem of Islamophobia and anti-Arab hate meaningfully. The fact that this guide came out after 14 months of his administration's full-throttled support for Israel's genocide of Palestinians and perpetuation of the "war on terror" are illustrative examples. When Joseph Czuba allegedly waged his deadly attack on Wadea and his mother, he reportedly shouted: "You Muslims have to die!" Not long after, reports emerged that Czuba was "obsessed with the Israel-Hamas war", allegedly telling Wadea's mother, who was severely injured, that "Palestinians don't deserve to live". While the strategy guide decries such physical attacks on Americans (ostensibly on US soil) based on "who they are", it omits the government's justifications for Israel's slaughter in Gaza which, in effect, share Czuba's alleged position that Palestinians do not deserve to live. The guide's framing attempts to paint violence as rooted in some mysterious antagonism towards members of these groups. But no one is targeted simply because of "who they are" devoid of any context; they are targeted because of the construction of who they are thought to be. Domestically, the US government routinely targets Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims based on "who they are", whom it has defined as irredeemable, violent, inherently rageful and perpetrators of "terrorism", among other demonising tropes. read the complete article
US federal appeals court partially revives suit alleging improper FBI surveillance of Muslims
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Friday partially revived a suit alleging improper FBI surveillance of Muslim residents of Southern California. The case was heard on remand from the US Supreme Court and decided on the findings of the District Court. Yassir Fazaga and other plaintiffs had initially filed a putative class action suit against the US government, the FBI, and various FBI personnel in their official and individual capacities. They alleged that the FBI paid a confidential informant to gather information about Muslim residents in a counterterrorism operation by the name of “Operation Flex.” The plaintiffs presented two-fold claims: the first alleging unconstitutional searches in violation of the Fourth Amendment, and the second alleging religious discrimination violating religious freedom under the First and Fifth Amendments and various statutes. The Supreme Court remanded the case back to the Appeals Court on appeal. In the present case, Fazaga v. FBI, the Court was presented with mainly two questions: the first involved whether Bivens v. Six Unknown Federal Narcotics Agents applied to the present case and would thus entitle the plaintiffs to monetary damages, and the second involved whether the state secrets privilege can be invoked at the motion to dismiss stage, without an inquiry by the Court. read the complete article
Germany
Suspect in Germany auto attack that killed 5, injured 200 self-identified as Islamophobic and anti-immigrationist
The suspect in the German car-ramming attack that killed five and injured more than 200 on Friday has been identified as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, a self-described member of the “liberal opposition” to Saudi Arabia who has voiced strong anti-Islamic and anti-immigration views. Two senior U.S. officials familiar with the matter identified al-Abdulmohsen as the suspect. His online activity includes historic and recent inflammatory content on X, and he has been accused of erratic behavior by an NGO for refugees. He has aligned himself with far-right movements such as Germany’s anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, while praising figures like Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders. Police have not released a motive in the Christmas market attack, but two senior U.S. officials told NBC News authorities are investigating whether the incident is terrorism-related. Al-Abdulmohsen has been remanded into custody. German prosecutors have said they are planning to file homicide and attempted homicide charges as well as aggravated assault counts, the senior U.S. officials said. Al-Abdulmohsen’s bio on his X account, verified by NBC News, says, “Germany wants to Islamize Europe.” read the complete article