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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In the United Kingdom, a London GP practice team at Queens Road Medical Center has been the victim of a ‘hate crime’ and ‘aggravated criminal damage’, including ‘Islamophobic’ graffiti and vandalism, meanwhile in Australia, two Palestinian flags on a tapestry on display at the National Gallery of Australia have been concealed with white fabric, in what the artists have described as an act of censorship, and in the United States, the Trump administration on Thursday transferred all of the Venezuelan migrants it had brought to the U.S. military base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, suddenly emptying a detention operation that it had just as abruptly started this month. Our recommended read of the day is by Brooke Anderson for The New Arab who writes on how a hate crimes unit in the Miami area is investigating a shooting last week by an American-Jewish man who wanted “to shoot Palestinians” but instead hit Israelis visiting the United States. This and more below:
United States
Hate crime unit probes Miami attack that aimed 'to shoot Palestinians' | Recommended Read
A hate crimes unit in the Miami area is investigating last weekend's shooting by an American-Jewish man who wanted "to shoot Palestinians" but instead hit Israelis visiting the United States. The suspect, Morechai Brafman, 27-years-old, is being accused of shooting two men 17 times with a semi-automatic handgun in Miami Beach on Saturday night, after he spotted them from his car and made a U-turn to approach them. The shooting sent the two victims to the hospital for their wounds, with one reportedly shot in the shoulder and the other hit in the forearm. Ironically, one of the victims shared an initial social media post saying "Death to Arabs" immediately following the attack, apparently believing he had been targeted for his identity as a Jewish Israeli. The Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office announced on Wednesday that their hate crimes unit is investigating the case. read the complete article
Trump Administration Abruptly Clears Out Migrants It Sent to Guantánamo
The Trump administration on Thursday transferred all of the Venezuelan migrants it had brought to the U.S. military base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, suddenly emptying a detention operation that it had just as abruptly started this month.Two passenger planes operated by Global X, a charter aircraft company, flew to the naval base on Thursday morning and shuttled most of the migrants to an airfield in Honduras. They were to then be put aboard a Venezuelan plane for repatriation. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Homeland Security Department, said 177 migrants had been transferred to Venezuelan custody, and one had been brought back to an immigration facility in the United States. In a declaration filed in court earlier on Thursday, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official had said 178 Venezuelans were at the base. An ICE official, Juan E. Agudelo, said in a court filing Thursday that the immigration agency intended to use Guantánamo “as a temporary staging facility for aliens being repatriated” and said they would be held there for “the time necessary to effect the removal orders.” The transfers cleared out the migrants at a time when the operation has raised numerous questions about whether the government had legitimate legal authority to take people from ICE facilities in the United States to the base in Cuba for continued detention. read the complete article
Australia
Newsroom edition: covering acts of hate in polarised times – Full Story podcast
Antisemitic and Islamophobic attacks are on the rise. For months the Coalition has accused the Albanese government of making the country less safe for Jewish people. The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils has written to Anthony Albanese, calling for urgent action to tackle Islamophobia. Pre-existing dividing lines are being inflamed by our politicians, and by the media, leaving the country further polarised. read the complete article
Islamophobia in Australia: The Epping attacks and the deafening silence
The recent Islamophobic attacks in Melbourne, are not just isolated incidents; they are a reflection of a growing trend of anti-Muslim hostility in Australia, ignored by the mainstream media and downplayed by the political leadership. On Thursday 13 February 2025, two Muslim women, visibly Muslim, wearing hijabs-one of whom was pregnant—were physically assaulted in separate but clearly connected attacks at Epping Plaza in broad daylight. The violence they endured—being slapped, punched, thrown to the ground, and in one case choked—was nothing short of horrifying. Yet, the response from media and political leaders has been alarmingly muted. The Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia, Aftab Malik, has called on the Prime Minister and other leaders to take this issue seriously, noting that Islamophobic violence has intensified and disproportionately targets Muslim women. “These latest assaults come off the back of recent violent Islamophobic attacks in other cities, including an alleged attempt to run over a prominent imam and an increase in Islamophobic graffiti in southwest Sydney,” Mr Malik said. Dr Nora Amath, Executive Director of the Islamophobia Register said, “Hate and violence have no place in our society. No person should have to live in fear because of their religious identity. We urge the authorities to act swiftly and decisively to uphold justice and protect all Australians from targeted hatred and discrimination. We also demand that serious attention is provided to all incidents of Islamophobia.” read the complete article
Albanese has been quick to condemn antisemitism. So why did it take him so long to speak about attacks on Muslim women?
Two women wearing hijabs sat down for lunch at Melbourne shopping centre on Thursday. They did not know each other, but within 10 minutes of each other, both women had been attacked. One was left with bruises after being slapped and punched, while the other had her hijab partially ripped off, choking her in the process. Victoria Police have since charged a 31-year-old woman with both assaults, and will allege the pair were targeted because they were wearing head coverings. The question of whether or not these attacks were racially motivated will ultimately be a question for the courts. But attacks on two women wearing head coverings has generated concern about a rise in Islamophobia and led to demands from Australian political leaders to openly condemn the attacks. read the complete article
‘This is censorship’: Palestinian flags covered up in major exhibition at National Gallery of Australia
Two Palestinian flags on a tapestry on display at the National Gallery of Australia have been concealed with white fabric, in what the artists have described as an act of censorship they only agreed to reluctantly. The large tapestry is part of the Te Paepae Aora’i – Where the Gods Cannot be Fooled exhibition, a group show by Pacific Indigenous art collective SaVĀge K’lub. The work features a number of flags, including the Aboriginal flag and the words “justice now”, the Torres Strait Islander flag, the West Papua flag, along with other Moana and Pacific peoples’ symbols, insignia and social justice slogans. The exhibition’s curator and founder of the SaVĀge K’lub, Rosanna Raymond, who is based in New Zealand, told Guardian Australia “we were censored over that work” by the NGA. The revelations about the exhibition comes amid outcry over the dumping of artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino by Creative Australia from the 2026 Venice Biennale, and wider concerns about artistic freedom and censorship. Raymond said the SaVĀge K’lub was “very surprised and concerned” when they were told in the days before the exhibition launched in June last year that there was a “high level” security risk with displaying the Palestinian flags on the tapestry and were given two options to proceed – to remove the work from the show or cover the flags – although she did not know who ordered the directive. read the complete article
United Kingdom
Police investigating ‘hate crime’ and ‘obscene’ racist graffiti at London GP practice
A London GP practice has been the victim of a ‘hate crime’ and ‘aggravated criminal damage’, including ‘Islamophobic’ graffiti and vandalism. The practice team at Queens Road Medical Centre in Walthamstow discovered ‘obscene and Islamophobic graffiti’ as well as damage to their locks, letterbox, intercom system, and outdoor lighting, and reported the incident to the Metropolitan Police at the end of last month. The police has confirmed to Pulse that it is investigating two incidents at the practice, which occurred throughout January, but that no arrests have yet been made. GP principal Dr Abdul Sheikh, who has also worked on community and race relations in Walthamstow for many years, told Pulse that the ‘shocking’ incident has left his staff with the ‘fear […] that it might happen again’. He said that the surgery stays open until 10pm on some days, which means the staff are ‘scared and feel unsafe particularly when leaving the premises so late’. He told Pulse that targeting a GP practice is ‘unusual’ and ‘alarming’. read the complete article
India
India's capital swears in member of Hindu nationalist BJP as CM
A member of India's ruling Hindu nationalist party was sworn in as chief minister of Delhi after an election landslide handed it control of the capital for the first time in decades. Rekha Gupta, 50, of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is the fourth woman to serve as chief minister of the sprawling megacity of more than 30 million people. The BJP is in government nationally but has not controlled the local legislature in Delhi since 1998, so its sweeping victory in taking more than two-thirds of seats in the February 5 polls was both symbolic and strategically important. Gupta, who has a law degree and began her career in student politics in the city, was selected for the post by party members late Wednesday. read the complete article