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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In the United Kingdom, prominent British Muslims in politics, media, business and sport have come together to form a new lobby group (British Muslim Network (BMN) to influence government policy on behalf of 4 million British Muslims, meanwhile in Germany, the nonprofit group Ekō has released research showing that the social media platforms X and Meta approved advertising featuring hate speech against Jews and Muslims that was geared toward users in Germany in the lead-up to the country’s elections on Sunday, and in the United States, jury selection has begun in the trial for an Illinois man accused of stabbing a 6-year-old Muslim boy to death and seriously wounding his mother in what authorities are describing as a hate crime. Our recommended read of the day is by Josef Burton for The Nation who writes on the harrowing implications of President Trump’s new “Muslim Ban 2.0,” which will include a review of all visa programs to “screen for adherence to American culture and values”. This and more below:
United States
Trump’s New Muslim Ban Is Worse Than His First | Recommended Read
The spontaneous mass resistance to Donald Trump’s first Muslim ban was perhaps the defining image of the uprising that greeted Trump when he came to power in 2017. What’s often left out of that story, though, is what happened next. A modified version of the ban slunk back into effect a few months later; this time, the Supreme Court signed off on the policy. Unless you were one of the people torn away from your family or who saw your green-card lottery dream of a new life in America canceled, it was easy to forget that it was even there. By the time Joe Biden repealed the ban in 2021, it was stripped down, efficient, and running on autopilot. It’s that form of the ban—quieter, sneakier—that is making a comeback in Trump’s second term. In fact, it’s not strictly accurate to call the ban a “Muslim” ban at all. A bland executive order buried in the January 20 flurry of White House proclamations doesn’t name any country or even dictate specific policy. There is no lurid prose. Instead, it directs four cabinet secretaries to begin a rolling 60-day collaborative multi-agency review process. The process is intended to end on March 21 with the publication of a list of countries that are supposedly not in compliance with information-sharing standards about immigrants and will thus be subject to restrictions on the ability of their citizens to enter the United States. If this all sounds bewildering, that’s because it’s meant to be. The obtuse bureaucratic structures that were only created to legally justify the first ban now form the core structure of a new one that promises to be amorphous and adaptable to shifting policy needs. The intent, however, remains the same as it’s always been: to deeply extend the power of the executive branch over the immigration system and to fulfill the wildest dreams of Trump’s white-nationalist lackeys, particularly Stephen Miller, whose power has only grown in the seven years since Trump first took office. read the complete article
‘Flagrant act of Islamophobia:’ NYPD investigates anti-Muslim incident at Kensington mosque
The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating an anti-Islamic incident outside a Kensington mosque last week after a man wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat was filmed shouting derogatory rhetoric at the house of worship. A video widely shared online since Feb. 18 shows the suspect standing outside Masjid Nur-Al Islam on Church Avenue with a megaphone, yelling anti-Islamic comments and claiming that the mosque funds the terrorist organization Hezbollah. New York’s elected officials have condemned the incident, with Gov. Kathy Hochul vowing to “root out Islamophobic hate in every corner of our state.” In a statement condemning the incident, local Council Member Shahana Hanif claimed the perpetrator is linked to the anti-Muslim group Betar US, which the Anti-Defamation League recently listed as an extremist hate group. read the complete article
Musk accuses 18 US Islamic, Arab and Palestinian charities of being 'terrorist organisations'
Billionaire Elon Musk has accused the US Agency for International Development (USAID) of supporting terrorism by funding 18 charitable organisations, foundations and institutions linked to Islam, Arabs or simply ones with Arabic-sounding names. Musk, who heads up the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under the administration of US President Donald Trump, reshared a tweet claiming that the USAID allocated $165 million to the organisation that are falsely accused of being "terrorist organizations", adding: "As many have said, why are we paying terrorist organizations and certain countries to hate us?" Musk has labelled these organisations as "terrorist" simply because their names included the words "Islam", "Islamic", or "Palestine", as well as those with Arabic names. Organisations listed in the disinformation tweet include the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy, Islamic Action Network, the Arab American Institute and the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund. This is not the first time Elon Musk has spread false information regarding Arabs and Muslims. read the complete article
US halts plan to house migrants in tents at Guantanamo amid concerns over conditions
The Trump administration has halted efforts to place migrants in tent structures built at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, amid concerns that the emerging facilities don’t meet detention standards because they lack air conditioning or electricity, a US official and a source familiar with the matter told CNN. It comes weeks after officials scrambled to set up additional housing for migrants at the controversial US base on the island — and only days after those on location were deported. While the tent structures are currently not being used, migrants are still being placed in the detention facility on the base, and at the Migrant Operations Center, or MOC. The Trump administration said it would be building out tent structures at Guantanamo Bay to house an anticipated 30,000 people transferred there from the southern border. But the sources said Monday that the tents don’t currently meet detention standards set by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The two sources, and a third US official, also said there haven’t been enough people transferred to the base to justify building more. read the complete article
Trial begins for man accused of stabbing 6-year-old Palestinian boy, committing hate crime
Jury selection began Monday in the trial for an Illinois man accused of stabbing a 6-year-old Muslim boy to death and seriously wounding his mother in what authorities described as a hate crime. Prosecutors allege that Joseph Czuba, 73, was motived by a “hatred of Muslims” when he stabbed Wadea Al-Fayoume, a Palestinian American boy, and his mother, Hanaan Shahin, more than a dozen times in an Oct. 2023 attack. Czuba pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and two counts of committing hate crimes. On Oct. 14, 2023, Will County deputies found Wadea and his mother suffering from severe stab wounds inside a bedroom she rented from Czuba in a suburb about 40 miles outside of Chicago. Wadea had been stabbed 26 times with a military style knife, authorities said. He died from the injuries in a hospital shortly after the attack. Shahin, who was stabbed more than a dozen times, survived the attack and told authorities what led to the violent encounter. Czuba had angrily confronted her about the Israel-Hamas War shortly before the attack, according to court documents. After Shahin proposed that they “pray for peace,” she said Czuba attacked her with a knife. She locked herself in a bathroom, but Wadea was in the bedroom, and she was not able to get him. Czuba’s wife told investigators her husband feared they would be attacked by people of Middle Eastern descent. Prior to the attack, Czuba’s wife said he told her he wanted Shahin and Wadea to move out, saying he believed Shahin would call over “Palestinian friends or family to harm them.” read the complete article
United Kingdom
Sayeeda Warsi and Mishal Husain back new lobby group for British Muslims
Prominent British Muslims in politics, media, business and sport have come together to influence government policy on behalf of 4 million British Muslims. The minister for faith Wajid Khan, the Tory MP and deputy speaker Nusrat Ghani, the former Conservative party chair Sayeeda Warsi, the broadcaster Mishal Husain, the ex-England cricketer Azeem Rafiq and the anti-racism group Hope Not Hate are backing the newly formed British Muslim Network (BMN). The Muslim Council of Britain has been the main representative body for Muslims for about 30 years, but successive governments have had a policy of “non-engagement” with the MCB dating back over a decade. Akeela Ahmed, co-chair of BMN, told the Guardian this meant policies concerning British Muslims were being made without their voices being heard, affecting cohesion, while insisting BMN aimed to “complement” organisations like the MCB, rather than replace them. BMN aims to bring together practitioners and experts to identify challenges British Muslims face to policymakers, in areas including health, education, immigration, equalities and the economy, aligning research with government’s goals, while growing its membership nationwide. It also aims to counter negative attitudes by highlighting contributions made by British Muslims to society, and encourage Muslims to take up positions on boards and vote. The establishment of BMN marks a shift towards promoting the interests of the UK’s Muslims as a diverse British social identity, rather than purely as a faith group, and comes after a surge in Islamophobic incidents, revealed by charity Tell Mama. read the complete article
Australia
Radicaliser? Undercover agent? Aftab Malik is used to dodging accusations
Even Malik, who became an Australian citizen last year, was wary when the new role was first advertised. “I didn’t want this job,” he tells me. “I knew how difficult it would be to navigate this field within the Muslim community.” Sceptics saw the position as an attempt to win back Labor votes in western Sydney, he says. Then there was the sheer scale of the prejudice he has described as a hidden cancer. Islamophobia Register Australia says reported incidents rose more than 500 per cent in the year after Hamas’ terrorist attacks on Israel. But eventually, he was convinced to apply by colleagues and friends, including one who took him for a walk and told him, “stop being a wuss”. Malik, who was designated a United Nations global expert on terrorism in the mid-2000s, says a deep knowledge of Islam protects against violence. He reminds me of a Quranic saying: To save a life is akin to saving all humanity. He says in his travels to give lectures after September 11, he was often questioned or stopped at airports. Once, he was asked whether his upcoming talk was “for terrorism or against it”. He also recalls a US official telling his seven-year-old son, “your father is a very dangerous man”. “My son, for years, kept asking me, ‘why did he say that?’” At times, Malik has been viewed with distrust by Muslims. In 2012, when he came to Sydney as a Lebanese Muslim Association scholar-in-residence, some people called him a radicalising influence. Others thought he was a “counter-radicalisation agent” brought in by the government. “When you’re trying to get people to think, you’ll get accused of everything,” Malik says. After 15 months of working with young people in Lakemba, the country’s unofficial Muslim capital, he had fallen in love with the locals’ quirkiness, generosity and resilience. Plans to complete a PhD at Oxford on Salafism were shelved. What followed was nearly 10 years with the NSW government, working on programs to counter violent extremism and promote “social cohesion” – in other words, to keep society from falling apart. Last year, he won the Premier’s Department secretary’s award for his efforts “in the wake of events in Israel/Gaza on October 7, 2023″. His task as the anti-Islamophobia envoy is to give independent advice to the Home Affairs minister and the prime minister. After Malik’s appointment was announced in September, academic Yassir Morsi questioned why the government had chosen someone with a background in countering violent extremism programs, which some Muslims see as stigmatising. But Malik says in the five weeks he spent travelling the country late last year, talking to more than 130 representatives of Islamic organisations, only a handful expressed serious concerns about this work. read the complete article
Germany
X, Meta Approved Antisemitic and Anti-Muslim Ads Targeting German Voters Before Election, Study Finds
The nonprofit group Ekō has released research showing that the social media platforms X and Meta approved advertising featuring hate speech against Jews and Muslims that was geared toward users in Germany in the lead-up to the country’s federal elections on Sunday. The organization submitted 10 German-language ads intended to reach German voters before the election. Meta approved half of the proposed ads while X allowed all 10. Ekō canceled all approved ads before they could appear on the sites. The five approved for publication on Meta referred to Muslim immigrants as a “virus,” “vermin,” “rodents,” or “rapists” and advocated for them to be sterilized, burnt, or gassed. Another Meta-approved ad called for arson attacks against synagogues in order to “stop the globalist Jewish rat agenda.” “Our findings suggest that Meta’s AI-driven ad moderation systems remain fundamentally broken, despite the Digital Services Act (DSA) now being in full effect,” an unnamed spokesperson for Ekō told TechCrunch. They added that “rather than strengthening its ad review process or hate speech policies, Meta appears to be backtracking across the board.” read the complete article