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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In Canada, both the Muslim and Jewish community have expressed concern over the government’s move to dissolve the offices of the special envoys on Islamophobia and antisemitism, meanwhile in the United Kingdom, London Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley is encouraging Londoners to report hate incidents even if they don’t meet the threshold for a “crime” as this helps track rising tensions in communities, and lastly in the United States, author Spencer Ackerman writes for The Intercept that U.S. President Donald Trump is embracing a model used by the George W. Bush Administration to use the “terrorist” label to justify what would be otherwise illegal search and detention practices. Our recommended read of the day is by J. David Goodman for The New York Times on how Republican politicians and strategists in Texas have shifted back to Islamophobia as an electoral strategy, after the “border invasion” rhetoric that dominated previous election cycles no longer holds the same appeal. This and more below:
United States
Without a Border ‘Invasion,’ Texas G.O.P. Turns to an Old Enemy, Islam | Recommended Read
Republican officials and candidates in Texas have shifted their rhetorical attack lines from the border fears that dominated recent elections to the state’s growing Muslim population, with language that echoes the aftermath of the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The rise of anti-Muslim rhetoric has unnerved many in the state’s Islamic community while sending signals to Republicans outside Texas who might be searching for rhetorical targets now that the nation’s southwestern border has grown quiet. Ads for Senator John Cornyn of Texas have touted his fight against “radical Islam.” Texas Republican lawmakers created a “Sharia-Free America Caucus” in Congress. Gov. Greg Abbott has labeled one of the nation’s largest Muslim rights groups a terror organization. A “Save Texas from Radical Islam” dinner north of Dallas last month featured Steve Bannon, a former adviser to President Trump, the conservative commentator Glenn Beck and the Dutch right-wing leader Geert Wilders — and attracted party activists and Texas House members. The State Senate is weighing legislation requested by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to ensure Texans “are never held under the heel of ‘Sharia law.’” The attacks on Islam are a notable shift for a party that has spent the last several election cycles focused on the Mexican border. Warnings of migrant “caravans” and a criminal invasion have lost their sting with a Republican in the White House and new policies that have halted most border crossings. read the complete article
BREAKING: CAIR Exposes History of Racism and Bigotry Among Witnesses at House’s ‘Sharia Hoax’ Hearing
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today released a memorandum exposing the long history of racism and bigotry expressed by witnesses scheduled to speak at a congressional hearing today about the “Sharia hoax” resurrected by anti-Muslim extremists over the past year. CAIR previously shared the memorandum with key members of the House Judiciary Committee. On Feb. 10, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government is scheduled to hold a hearing titled “Sharia-Free America: Why Political Islam & Sharia Law Are Incompatible with the U.S. Constitution,” to fan the flames of hate against American Muslims using conspiracy theories about Islam taking over America. read the complete article
"Terrorist”: How ICE Weaponized 9/11’s Scarlet Letter
The word "terrorist" wasn’t coined on September 11, 2001, but the defining event of the early 21st century ushered it in as the United States’ go-to term for demonizing outsiders and dissenters alike. The so-called “war on terror” transformed the way the U.S. wields power at home and abroad, enabling mass surveillance and a crackdown on the right to free speech. It became reflexive for the U.S. to disparage immigrants and protesters as supporters of terrorism. President Donald Trump has embraced this model and manipulated it for his own ends, as author Spencer Ackerman points out. The Trump administration often peddles spurious accusations of terrorism against the targets of its immigration raids. “There’s nothing about any of their action that’s remotely anything at all like terrorism,” Ackerman says. “But that is the fire in which ICE, CBP, and the Department of Homeland Security was forged. You are going to find this in its DNA.” This week on the Intercept Briefing, host Jordan Uhl speaks with Ackerman, a leading expert on the concept of terrorism and its weaponization by the state. Ackerman’s 2021 book, “Reign of Terror, How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump,” traces the legal and cultural evolution of the last 25 years, and how the boomerang has come back home. read the complete article
Canada
Now is a bad time for Canada to ditch its antisemitism and Islamophobia envoys
Last week, a Jewish-owned restaurant in Montreal was vandalized. “You [expletive] Jew” was painted on its front door, with a Jewish star added for good measure. It was just one of too many antisemitic – and Islamophobic – acts shaking Canadian lives in recent years, most of which don’t make it to the news. Also last week, the federal government announced it is dissolving the offices of Canada’s Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia and the Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism. The envoys will be replaced by an advisory council on rights, equality and inclusion comprised of academics and community leaders. Its responsibilities include a feel-good, if fuzzy, mission “to foster social cohesion, rally Canadians around shared identity, combat racism and hate in all their forms” and advise the federal government. Sounds great, right? Who could oppose combating racism and fostering social cohesion? Any fight against hate is welcome. Islamophobia in Canada has been deadly. Six people were killed in the 2017 Quebec City mosque attack. In 2021, four members of the Afzaal family were murdered while out for a walk in London, Ont. Any community putting up with this level of terror and hate requires dedicated advocates of its own. The situation calls for urgent and informed attention. We’re not going to kumbaya our way out of this. read the complete article
Opinion: Let's not dilute antisemitism and Islamophobia
As Canadian Muslims marked the anniversary of the 2017 Quebec City mosque attack recently, remembrance was accompanied by unease. Six men were murdered while praying in the deadliest attack on a house of worship in Canadian history. At commemorations in Quebec City and Montreal, a shared message emerged: Remembrance must be matched by resolve. That message comes at a critical moment. The federal government has decided, and without meaningful consultation with affected communities, to dissolve the Office of the Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia and the Office of the Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism, folding both into a broader advisory council. The stated objective is national unity. The risk, however, is the opposite. I write as a former CEO of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation. For several years, I worked closely with communities and government institutions to confront racism, address social fracture and strengthen national cohesion. One lesson was constant — consultation matters. Institutional clarity matters. And without the resolve to implement policy in partnership with communities, even the best intentions fall short. Human rights policy cannot operate in the abstract. Islamophobia and antisemitism are not interchangeable expressions of generic hate. Each has its own history, ideological roots and contemporary manifestations. read the complete article
United Kingdom
Report hate incidents, crime or not, says Met
Police are urging Londoners to report hate incidents, even when they do not meet the legal threshold for a crime. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said officers still needed to hear about them because the information helps track rising tensions in communities. His comments at the launch of the British Muslim Trust (BMT) follow the Met's announcement last year that it would stop investigating incidents that were not legally defined as crimes but perceived as motivated by hostility towards characteristics such as race, religion or gender. BMT, a government-funded organisation set up to monitor anti-Muslim hate, said the move caused confusion among victims and communities. When asked what he would say to a victim who may not understand the distinction, he said: "If someone feels threatened because of their race or religion they should call us. "We will work out whether it's a crime. In either event we need to know about it. "If it's a sign of escalating tension in an area or escalating tension between neighbours, we want to know about it." read the complete article
Anti-Muslim hate definition would protect people, not shut down Islam criticism
A new definition of anti-Muslim hate would aim to protect people from abuse and harassment rather than shut down criticism of Islam, a member of the working group that advised the UK Government on the topic has said. Critics of efforts to create a new definition have raised concerns that doing so could create backdoor blasphemy laws and curtail speech about Islamic extremism. Ministers launched a working group, chaired by barrister and former Conservative attorney general Dominic Grieve, in February 2025 and their recommendations were submitted to Government in October. A draft definition, reported by the BBC at the end of last year, included the phrase “anti-Muslim hostility” and referred to the “prejudicial stereotyping and racialisation of Muslims”. Akeela Ahmed, chief executive of British Muslim Trust (BMT), has said a new definition would “help provide clarity” as to “what anti-Muslim hatred is, how it shows up, what it looks like, the different ways that it can be manifested”. read the complete article
'Horrific' anti-Muslim graffiti daubed on fence near primary school
Shock has been voiced after anti-Muslim graffiti was daubed on a fence near a primary school. The graffiti was drawn down a ginnel which runs between Chorley New Road and Mansell Way in Horwich. The public path runs down the side of Chorley New Road Primary Academy. It reads "Kill Muslim", with what appears to be a Christian cross drawn next to it. The writing appears to have been crossed out. A local resident who reported the graffiti to the police on January 24 voiced her horror at the offensive daubing. She said: "I’d feel the same whether it be another religion, it’s horrific as a human, never mind a Muslim woman." read the complete article
Australia
Special envoy against Islamophobia demands apology for police treatment of Muslim demonstrators
Criticism of NSW police is growing over their handling of some Muslim men, engaging in daily prayer, during the protest in Sydney last night. The special envoy to combat Islamophobia has demanded, in one of his strongest rebukes yet in the job, that there must be an investigation into the response and the Premier must apologise. Aftab Malik told SBS World News that without action from the authorities, the NSW police risk irreparable damage to their relations with the Muslim community. read the complete article
International
Europe keeps forgetting that Muslims are part of its history
How, exactly, are European Muslims supposed to look? I would often ask my friends. Well, I don’t know, not like Bosnians. They would often answer. Long before the wars, poverty and instability that drove migration from parts of the Arab world and North Africa, Muslims were already part of Europe. Bosnian Muslims are among them. Before the 2015 refugee crisis, Europe’s Muslim population was largely settled, not newly arrived. It consisted of Indigenous communities who have lived for centuries in southeastern Europe, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Sandzak (part of Serbia), Bulgaria, Greece and Romania. Islam in Europe is not a temporary presence but part of the continent’s social fabric, one that forces Europe to rethink identity, citizenship and secularism. Muslims are not merely in Europe; they are of Europe. And yet, we still find ourselves explaining this, over and over again. We have been witnessing the rise of far-right parties across Europe for years now, from France and Germany to the Netherlands and Austria, bringing anti-immigration and anti-Muslim rhetoric ever closer to the mainstream. Alongside electoral success, incidents such as Quran burnings carried out under the banner of free expression have deepened alienation. Muslims are increasingly framed not as a historical reality of Europe, but as a cultural problem to be managed. Instead of pushing us aside or failing to learn about us, Europeans should look to Bosnians as an example of how it is possible to be both European and Muslim, without contradiction. read the complete article