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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In Australia, the National Gallery of Australia claims it covered Palestinian flags in a major exhibition after undertaking a security threat assessment, but critics say the decision was “rooted in political cowardice”, meanwhile in the United Kingdom, the BBC has pulled its documentary about children in Gaza after mounting pressure over a featured child being the son of a Palestinian minister, in a move many are criticizing as overtly political, and in the United States, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has denounced a post by Billionaire Elon Musk labelling US Muslim groups that receive USAID as “terrorist organizations”, saying it fuels Islamophobia and endangers Muslim Americans. Our recommended read of the day is by Victoria Bisset for The Washington Post who writes on the rise in popularity of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which is projected to take the second most majority in the legislature. This and more below:
Germany
What is the AfD, the far-right German party supported by Vance and Musk? | Recommended Read
As Germans head to the polls Sunday, one party has attracted more attention both at home and abroad than any other: the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). With other parties pledging not to work with the AfD, it is highly unlikely to join any ruling coalition. But the party is projected to secure its biggest election win to date to become the second-largest party in the country’s parliament, or Bundestag, and has attracted support from some in President Donald Trump’s administration — causing alarm in Germany. The AfD was founded in 2013 in opposition to German support for bailouts during the European debt crisis. The party grew rapidly, embracing a strong anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim focus after Germany welcomed more than 1 million refugees in 2015 and rallying against lockdowns and vaccine mandates during the coronavirus pandemic. Germany’s domestic intelligence service classified the AfD as a suspected extremist group in 2021 and has also labeled it as an extremist organization in three German states. In 2023, the head of the service blamed parts of the AfD for the spread of Russian propaganda. More than a million people took to the streets across Germany to demonstrate against the AfD in early 2024 after an investigative report found that its members had met with far-right extremists to discuss plans for mass deportations. The same year, the party banned a prominent AfD candidate from appearing at election events after he suggested that not all of Nazi Germany’s SS officers should be considered criminals. read the complete article
Immigration and an ailing economy dominate Germany’s election as far right eyes gains
German elections usually pride themselves on being reliably boring. Not so this time. The world’s third largest economy goes to the polls Sunday under the shadow of unusually brusque interventions from the Trump administration in support of the anti-immigration far right. Meanwhile a spate of high-profile attacks on Germany’s streets, the latest coming Friday at Berlin’s Holocaust memorial, have led to charged campaign debates on immigration. The favorite to become chancellor is Friedrich Merz, 69, the straight-laced, bespectacled leader of the center-right Christian Democrat Union, or CDU. He has questioned Germany’s future relationship with the United States. At home, Merz wants to slash regulatory red tape and corporate taxes while tightening Germany’s borders in what critics say is an attempt to ape his rivals on the hard right. But undoubtedly the big story is Alternative for Germany, whose polling figures of 21% would double its support from the last election in 2021, and likely put it in second place. Led by Alice Weidel, 46, the far-right, staunchly anti-immigration and anti-Muslim party is under surveillance for suspected extremism by the country’s own domestic intelligence agency. read the complete article
United States
Muslims in Michigan react to the first few weeks of the Trump administration
DON GONYEA, HOST: Talks about the future of Gaza continue in the Middle East after President Trump suggested earlier this month a U.S. takeover of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory. Candidate Trump picked up significant support among Arab and Muslim voters in the key swing state of Michigan in last year's election. NPR's Sarah McCammon recently traveled to Dearborn in southeast Michigan and joins me now. Hi, Sarah. GONYEA: So you spent time in and around Dearborn - It's one of the nation's most heavily Muslim and Arab communities - just days after President Trump, again, repeatedly talked about the U.S. taking over the Gaza Strip and resettling Palestinians in neighboring countries. I'm based in that part of the world, and I had some of those conversations in that area as well. Mine were within hours of Trump's comments. I found people very reluctant to talk. What did you hear from those that you met? MCCAMMON: Yeah, you know, Don, I also ran into some of that reticence to talk. I spent some time at the largest mosque in the country there in Dearborn, and several people didn't want to talk about politics. But from those I did speak with, I heard a range of reactions, including disappointment and concern and also a lot of skepticism about Trump's proposal. MUJTABA HADI: He talks about it from, like, a positive point of view, how he wants to build community for them and get them out of their - the region. But to be honest, looking at it from my point of view, he doesn't care about the Palestinians. You know, he cares about the real estate that they're on, and I feel like that's his priority more than anything else. read the complete article
'Embraces Islamophobia, Harasses Muslims': ADL Lists Far-right Betar USA as Hate Group
The Anti-Defamation League confirmed on Friday that it has added Betar USA, a far right and militant Jewish group, to its online database of movements and organizations that "subscribe to and/or promote extremist and hateful ideologies." read the complete article
The lasting impact of 9/11 on Muslim integration in America
With ongoing global debates on immigration, integration, and rising Islamophobia, understanding the long-term social impacts of historical events is more important than ever. Shadi Farahzadi studies the effects of the 9/11 attacks on Muslim integration, finding that in the aftermath, the intermarriage rate among Muslims fell by eight percentage points relative to other minority groups. The September 11, 2001, attacks profoundly altered American society, shaping attitudes toward Muslim communities in ways that extended beyond national security policies and civil liberties. One of the most overlooked yet deeply significant consequences of this shift has been its impact on Muslim marriages. These marriages—particularly intermarriage between Muslims and non-Muslims—serve as a powerful indicator of social integration, offering unique insights into how communities connect and blend across ethnic, racial, and religious lines. Examining how 9/11 influenced marriage choices provides a deeper understanding of American society, showing that a single event can reshape not just headlines or policies, but also the deeply personal decisions people make about love and family. read the complete article
CAIR slams Musk for labelling US Muslim groups as 'terrorist organisations'
The Council on American-Islamic Relations has denounced Billionaire Elon Musk's post labelling US Muslim groups that receive USAID as "terrorist organisations", saying it fuels Islamophobia and endangers Muslim Americans. Musk retweeted a post on Sunday that depicted American Muslim aid groups as "terrorist organisations." "As many people have said, why pay terrorist organisations and certain countries to hate us when they’re perfectly willing to do it for free?" Musk said in his quoted retweet. The post mentioned over a dozen US Muslim groups, including the Arab American Institute, Islamic Relief Agency, Muslim Aid, and Palestine Children's Relief Fund. In its response, CAIR said those groups are "duly registered nonprofit organisations that have the same right to apply for federal funding as every other eligible charity", adding that many of them partnered with Trump's first administration. "Anyone who sees the word 'Islam' in the name of an American charity and then immediately declares that the charity must be a 'terrorist organisation' is a hateful person who must know next to nothing about American Muslims and their contributions to our society, including humanitarian work," CAIR said. read the complete article
Video captures hate-filled bigot in MAGA hat screaming obscenities at NYC mosque
A despicable bigot wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat hurled obscenities at a Brooklyn mosque in a sickening rant that Gov. Kathy Hochul has condemned as a “hateful, offensive display.” Video of the unidentified hater — posted online by the group Bangladeshi Americans for Political Progress — showed the man screaming horrific slurs through a megaphone Tuesday at the Masjid Nur-Al Islam mosque in Kensington, the group said. The man — who wore a red Trump hat and a New York Jets jacket — then walked around the brick building marveling at its entrances before making evidence-free claims that the mosque sent money to Hezbollah. An NYPD representative said he didn’t have any info about the incident when The Post called on Sunday. The Bangladeshi-American group that posted the video claimed on its account that the man was a member of Betar, a century-old group of extreme Zionists that’s been deemed a hate group by the Anti-Defamation League. “BAPP condemns the disgusting, inflammatory, reprehensible Islamophobic attack at the Masjid Nur-Al Islam in Kensington, Brooklyn,” the group wrote. “Enough. Our community will no longer silently endure Islamophobic threats and violence,” the group said. read the complete article
The Take: Will US trial bring justice for slain Palestinian child Wadea?
The trial for six-year-old Palestinian Wadea al-Fayoume’s murder begins in Chicago. Joseph Czuba faces hate crime charges, but his killing reflects a growing wave of anti-Palestinian hate in the US. As Islamophobia rises post-October 7, will this trial deliver justice? read the complete article
The Chaos of Trump’s Guantánamo Plan
The military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, has long occupied a blighted corner of the American legal system. Multiple Administrations have tried, and failed, to close the facility, which opened in 2002 and at one point held nearly eight hundred terrorism suspects, commonly called “the worst of the worst” because of their purported ties to the attacks of 9/11. Many of them spent at least a decade there without facing actual charges or having a trial. All but fifteen had finally been released or transferred when, earlier this month, Donald Trump added a fresh indignity to Guantánamo’s dark history. Over several days, beginning on February 4th, the government sent a hundred and seventy-eight Venezuelan migrants apprehended on U.S. soil to the site. They were held incommunicado; a hundred and twenty-seven of them were in Camp 6, which was once reserved for alleged Al Qaeda combatants. On February 12th, four legal groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, filed a lawsuit on behalf of three of the Venezuelans. “Remarkably,” the emergency motion noted, “these detainees now have less access to counsel than the military detainees at Guantánamo who have been held under the laws of war in the aftermath of September 11.” This past Thursday, before a judge could issue a ruling, the Trump Administration announced that it had deported nearly all the Venezuelans to an airbase in Honduras. From there, they would be flown back to Venezuela. Guantánamo provided the ideal stage for Trump’s brand of political theatre. His “mass deportation” agenda is premised on the idea that all undocumented immigrants are criminals, and that any differences in the labels used to describe them—whether gang members, terrorists, or, to quote Kristi Noem, the Secretary of Homeland Security, “dirtbags”—are merely semantic. “Some of them are so bad we don’t even trust the countries to hold them, because we don’t want them coming back,” Trump said of the Venezuelans sent to Guantánamo. He offered no evidence. Neither did Noem, who said that they were “mainly child pedophiles” who were “trafficking children, trafficking drugs.” read the complete article
United Kingdom
BBC slammed for pulling film that 'humanised Palestinian children'
The BBC has pulled its documentary about children in Gaza from iPlayer after mounting pressure over a featured child being the son of a Palestinian minister, in a move some commentators have slammed as "cowardly". Outrage over Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone reached its highest point on Wednesday and Thursday, with the Israeli ambassador in London complaining to Britain's public broadcaster, and culture secretary Lisa Nandy saying she will "be discussing" the issue with the BBC. Most criticism has focused on the fact, first reported by researcher David Collier, that the documentary's 13-year-old narrator Abdullah Alyazouri is the son of a minister in Gaza's Hamas-run government. Middle East Eye found on Thursday that Dr Ayman Alyazouri, Gaza's deputy agriculture minister, appears to be a technocrat with a scientific background who previously worked for the United Arab Emirates government and studied at British universities. The BBC said on Friday: "Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone features important stories we think should be told, those of the experiences of children in Gaza. "There have been continuing questions raised about the programme, and in the light of these, we are conducting further due diligence with the production company. The programme will not be available on iPlayer while this is taking place." Earlier this week a group of 45 prominent Jewish journalists and members of the media, including former BBC governor Ruth Deech, piled on pressure by sending a letter to the broadcaster demanding the film be removed from the iPlayer. read the complete article
Exhibition to reflect city's Muslim community
A new exhibition in Birmingham hopes to reflect the diversity of the city's mosques, as well as its vibrant Muslim community. What Did You Want To See?, by Birmingham artist Mahtab Hussain, will be at Ikon Gallery from 20 March to 1 June. It features Hussain's documentation of 160 mosques, as well as portraits of residents, and a communal space. "Through my work, I strive to reflect the richness and resilience of Muslim communities, celebrating their individuality while challenging stereotypes," he said. "Each portrait and installation is a story, an invitation to connect, and a reminder of the beauty in our shared humanity." The pictures of the mosques were taken in the summers of 2023 and 2024 and will be displayed in a 16 x 10 grid. "The collection reveals the diversity of mosque architecture, from the iconic domes and minarets of Birmingham's Central Mosque to the Arts & Crafts designs of terraced houses and yellow brick churches," said Ikon Gallery. read the complete article
Scotland
White supremacy theorist has top billing at Scottish far-right event
THE man behind a conspiracy theory cited by white supremacists and mass murderers has been booked as a conference speaker by a far-right political party led by a Scot. Renaud Camus – who coined the term “the great replacement” – has top billing at an upcoming Homeland Party conference which will explore the idea of removing “illegal, unintegrated, and unwelcome migrants” from the UK. The French author first used the term in a 2011 book, arguing it was the “replacement of a people, the indigenous French people, by one or others; of its culture by the loss of its cultural identity through multiculturalism.” Camus’s idea of the “great replacement” has since spread beyond France and inspired far-right groups that claim Europe’s white majority is being replaced with Muslim people of colour in collusion with a left-wing, globalist elite. Camus is now due to visit Britain next month as a guest of the Homeland Party, a political group active in Scotland that says nationalism should be based on land and the “law of blood” - which means membership of a nation is defined by ancestry rather than political decisions. read the complete article