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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In India, new reporting by India Hate Lab documented 1,318 in-person hate speech events, overwhelmingly led by Hindu nationalist groups and political actors affiliated with the ruling BJP, meanwhile at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), a representative from Gambia’s legal team accounts how Rohingya Muslims faced “longstanding denigration” and hate speech from senior and other members of Myanmar’s military since 2016, and lastly in Israel, footage on social media shows Maccabi Tel Aviv fans attacking a Palestinian business owner in the port city of Jaffa, with police warning the business owner that he risked “being shot” if he attempted to flee the scene. Our recommended read of the day is by the Muslim Legal Fund on how, as Texas state leaders crank up anti-Sharia talk and turn legal fire on Muslim groups, longtime GOP backers say they feel “courted for their votes and values while being cast as a threat in the next culture war”. This and more below:
United States
Texas Muslim Republicans Threaten To Walk As ‘Sharia’ Attacks Escalate | Recommended Read
Across Texas, some conservative Muslim voters are quietly rethinking what used to feel like a settled question: of course, they were Republicans. Now, as state leaders crank up anti-Sharia talk and turn legal fire on Muslim groups, longtime GOP backers from Houston suburbs to Fort Bend County say they feel courted for their votes and values while being cast as a threat in the next culture war. With the March 1 primary looming, a bloc the party once counted on is openly wondering whether the GOP still wants them in the tent. read the complete article
United Kingdom
Reform councillor’s Muslim school comments labelled ‘unacceptable’ by opposition
A Reform UK councillor has been criticised for “unacceptable” comments made during a counter-terrorism training session. The meeting was held by Leicestershire County Council on 5 January and involved Leicestershire councillors and officers. During the meeting, councillor Carl Abbott, Reform cabinet member for adult social care, said he was “worried” about “seeing children in primary schools being taught to pray the Muslim way.” “It bothers me if the government is allowing this to be taught in school; does it not start the radicalisation of these children? Will we see a further increase in crimes, etc, as these children grow up?” read the complete article
The UK is taking political prisoners to evade accountability for genocide
In June 2025, the UK government proscribed the UK-based group Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000. This was not a security decision, but a political one, marking an unprecedented escalation in the criminalisation of Palestine solidarity in the United Kingdom. Palestine Action members have engaged in non-violent direct action aimed at disrupting the UK’s complicity in the Gaza genocide, targeting facilities linked to Israel’s arms industry operating in the UK, including Elbit Systems sites and elements of British military infrastructure. Rather than confronting its own actions, the government has sought to divert attention from the central issue: the UK’s role in the Gaza genocide. Throughout Israel’s assault on Gaza, the UK has provided sustained political and diplomatic support, supplied vital components for F-35 fighter jets, and conducted R1 surveillance flights over Gaza. Taken together, these actions render the British government not merely complicit, but materially involved in the violence itself.In June 2025, the UK government proscribed the UK-based group Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000. This was not a security decision, but a political one, marking an unprecedented escalation in the criminalisation of Palestine solidarity in the United Kingdom. Palestine Action members have engaged in non-violent direct action aimed at disrupting the UK’s complicity in the Gaza genocide, targeting facilities linked to Israel’s arms industry operating in the UK, including Elbit Systems sites and elements of British military infrastructure. read the complete article
International
US terror designation of Muslim Brotherhood threatens all civil society
The United States’ decision to designate the Egyptian, Jordanian and Lebanese branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organisations - including Foreign Terrorist Organisation and Specially Designated Global Terrorist designations under U.S. law - represents the logical and foreseeable outcome of counter-terrorism and national security legislation that vests the state with sweeping powers over political and civic life. For years we have warned that national security and counter-terrorism frameworks are tools to imperil basic freedoms, stifle dissent, and shut down legitimate civic and political organisations. Our analysis in Criminalising Non-Violent Organisations, published in 2014, and related submissions to the UK Government’s review of the Brotherhood clearly set out how these mechanisms set out the blueprint for targeting broad swathes of Muslim civil society. This policy trajectory proves those concerns were well-founded. This policy mirrors longstanding demands from authoritarian regimes - notably those responsible for the mass incarceration and repression of political opponents - to press Western governments into adopting blanket bans on groups that present a political challenge to their autocracy. At the same time, it reflects the persistence of virulent Islamophobic narratives within the current U.S. administration that see Islam as an existential threat that must be repressed and restrained. read the complete article
Myanmar’s Rohingya people called ‘Muslim dogs’ before attacks, ICJ hears
From Gambia’s legal team, Jessica Jones highlighted how the Rohingya faced “longstanding denigration” and hate speech from senior and other members of the Myanmar military. Ms. Jones also referred to a video posted on Facebook in August 2017 featuring a soldier displaying “clear encouragement of genocidal violence against the Rohingya” – actions that would be in clear breach of Myanmar’s obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention. “He told them, and I quote, ‘We will clear the villages where those animals live. We have guns, we have bullets. That’s what we came with, with ammunition and the spirit to attack the animals, we have come here. If you can carry a sword, carry a sword. If you can carry a stick, then carry a stick. Carry whatever you can and bravely face these animals’.” Gambia, a Muslim-majority nation, alleges that Myanmar’s military rulers committed brutal acts of genocide against the Rohingya people from 2016 to 2018 in northern Rakhine State. read the complete article
Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters attack Palestinians in Jaffa as UK officials demand police resignations over fan ban
Maccabi Tel Aviv fans attacked a Palestinian business owner in the Israeli port city of Jaffa on Wednesday, with footage of the attack shared widely on social media. Footage posted to social media showed Maccabi fans, dressed in the team's colours, throwing objects at the owner and staff at a Palestinian-owned car wash. The fans can be heard chanting "Death to Arabs" - a racist slogan that Maccabi supporters have been recorded chanting elsewhere. Israeli police stood by and warned the business owner that he risked being shot if he attempted to flee in his vehicle, as it would look like an attempted car-ramming, Israeli journalists reported. The video circulated online as controversy related to Maccabi Tel Aviv's fans raged on in the UK, where government officials and pro-Israel groups have called for police resignations over a decision to ban the supporters from attending a game in November. read the complete article
India
How Hate Speech Became a Governing Strategy in India
In 2025, India recorded 1,318 in-person hate speech events, averaging more than three per day and overwhelmingly led by Hindu nationalist groups and political actors affiliated with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, according to a report by the India Hate Lab. The report supports the inference that a political choice is behind the sustained scale of public incitement, which undermines both the rule of law and the idea of equal citizenship. The 400-page report presents data that show a steady, organised ecosystem of hate mobilised largely against India’s Muslim and Christian minorities. Of the 1,318 incidents, 98 percent targeted Muslims either alone or along with Christians. The majority of speeches were tied to Hindu nationalist organizations including the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and Antarrashtriya Hindu Parishad. Over 50 percent included conspiracy theories such as “love jihad,” “land jihad” and “thook jihad.” read the complete article