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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In the United States, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-Minn) was attacked by an individual with a spray bottle containing an unknown substance while at a town hall in Minneapolis with police investigating the incident, elsewhere in the U.S., a new survey at Brown University reveals that just 37% of Muslim undergraduates felt that the University takes Islamophobia seriously and responds appropriately, compared to 65% of undergraduate students overall, and lastly in the UK, the Green Party will put Reform candidate Matthew Goodwin’s “record of anti-Muslim bigotry”, along with a message of “unity and hope”, at the forefront of its campaign to win the Gorton and Denton by-election. Our recommended read of the day is by Brittany Busch and Mostafa Rachwani for The Sydney Morning Herald on how comments made by former Prime Minister Scott Morrison on “radicalized extremist Islam” have been labelled as “reckless, deeply offensive and profoundly dangerous” by Australian Muslim leaders. This and more below:
Australia
Muslim leaders slam Morrison as 'reckless, irresponsible' after Islam speech | Recommended Read
Leading Liberal moderate Andrew Bragg has called on Australian Muslims to take some responsibility for religious extremism, after former prime minister Scott Morrison told an antisemitism conference in Israel that Islamic leaders should enforce stronger standards on their own communities. Morrison said Australia’s Muslim leaders should license preachers, translate all sermons into English and set up a board to police radicals. Morrison’s comments were made at a conference in Jerusalem on Tuesday night (AEDT), where he was hailed by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “terrific, terrific champion of our people”. Morrison’s speech drew swift condemnation from Labor MPs and the Australian National Imams Council, which said the comments were “reckless, irresponsible, and deeply ill-informed”. “The West has probably been too nice for its own good, and a lot of Western countries probably feel that they can’t be honest and open about some of the issues.” Asked whether the Christian community should take responsibility for Nazi hate speech, Bragg said: “99.9 per cent of Australian Muslims are fantastic citizens, but… this is a mutation of Islam which is leading to now the deaths of our fellow citizens. And so we need to do everything we can stop that.” President of the Australian National Imams Council, Imam Shadi Alsuleiman, rejected Morrison’s attempt to draw a line between the Muslim community and the Bondi attack. “The comments by former prime minister Scott Morrison are reckless, irresponsible, and deeply ill-informed,” he said. read the complete article
United States
How the spray attack on Ilhan Omar unfolded as Minnesota congresswoman hits back: ‘I survived a war’
Congresswoman Ilhan Omar says she refuses to bow to “intimidation” after she was attacked while delivering an anti-ICE speech in Minneapolis, the focal point of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. “I’ve survived war,” the Somali-born Minnesota Democrat told CNN after an assailant rushed at her with a syringe containing unknown liquid during a town hall Tuesday, interrupting her speech but leaving her unharmed. “I’m definitely going to survive intimidation and whatever these people think they can throw at me because I’m built that way,” she added. Omar, who is frequently singled out for derision by Trump — including just hours before the attack — was addressing a crowded room when the assault occurred. Soon after, the man — who has not been identified — was tackled to the ground and detained, video footage shows. read the complete article
'Muslim City'? Islamophobia mistakenly hits Hindu landowner in Florida
Opposition to the development of some 7,100 acres in rural Indian River County, which had been building for months, exploded into a crowd of “concerned citizens, malicious actors or reckless opportunists” Jan. 22, protesting what they believed was a massive "Muslim Epic City." That "city," however, is complete fiction, according to county officials, the landowner and his attorney, all conjured up by misinformation spreading online. Residents alleged a connection between landowners here and a mosque — both named "Epic" and both based in Texas. One homeowner, Dennis Michael Lynch — a conservative media figure and former Fox News contributor — urged residents, in the runup to the Jan. 22 county meeting, to oppose "huge plans for a massive mosque and Mecca-like community in Vero Beach," he said on X. That — and vitriolic sentiment about a large Islamic community coming to Florida circulating on social media — resulted in a packed, outraged crowd at the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. Indian River County officials at the meeting denied any existence of plans for a "Muslim Epic City." Epic Estates manager Venkatesh Yerramsetty denied any association between his firm and the East Plano Islamic Center in a Jan. 22 email to county officials. read the complete article
Some minority students less comfortable reporting harassment, discrimination, campus survey finds
Over 11% of all students who identify as Black, multiracial, LGBTQ, transgender and Muslim, as well as Jewish undergraduates, reported experiencing harassment or discrimination during their time at Brown, Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Matthew Guterl wrote in a Tuesday Today@Brown announcement. The message shared the preliminary findings of the University’s 2025-26 Campus Climate Survey, which was conducted by an external contractor as agreed upon in the University’s deal with the federal government last summer. The percentage of students reporting harassment or discrimination at Brown reaches over 15% for graduate and medical students who identify as Black, Hispanic or multiracial, as well as for Muslim undergraduates and transgender students, the announcement added. Many of these groups were also less likely to believe that the University takes reports of discrimination against their demographic group seriously, Guterl wrote. Just 37% of Muslim undergraduates felt that the University takes Islamophobia seriously and responds appropriately, compared to 65% of undergraduate students overall. The survey found that only 48% of Muslim undergraduates agreed or strongly agreed that they feel comfortable reporting incidents of Islamophobia, compared to 74% of all undergraduates. read the complete article
Ilhan Omar incident did not happen in a vacuum, Muslim advocates say
A Muslim civil rights organization says an attack on Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar during a town hall event reflects a broader pattern of hate and rhetoric directed at the congresswoman. The Council on American-Islamic Relations said Omar was targeted by a man who sprayed an unknown substance at her while she was speaking. In a statement released after the incident, the group said the attack “did not happen in a vacuum” and pointed to years of hostile language aimed at the Democratic lawmaker. CAIR, the largest Muslim advocacy organisation in the United States, said Omar has been “the frequent target of anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant and anti-Somali hate rhetoric.” “We condemn this assault in the strongest possible terms and call for enhanced security for Congresswoman Omar, her family and her community,” said Jaylani Hussein, executive director of CAIR’s Minnesota chapter. “When a sitting member of Congress is relentlessly demonized through false anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant rhetoric, violence becomes a predictable outcome.” read the complete article
United Kingdom
Greens Frame By-Election As Battle Against "Anti-Muslim Record" Of Reform’s Matthew Goodwin
The Green Party will put Reform candidate Matthew Goodwin’s “record of anti-Muslim bigotry”, along with a message of “unity and hope”, at the forefront of its campaign to win the Gorton and Denton by-election, PoliticsHome understands. Goodwin, a GB News presenter and former academic associated with the populist right, has been selected as Reform UK's candidate for the parliamentary by-election in Greater Manchester next month. A critic of the concept of Islamophobia, he recently wrote that ”the ruling class in the UK is moving to shut down public debate about Islam." He has also suggested in the past that being born and raised in Britain does not necessarily mean that people are British, saying: “It takes more than a piece of paper to make somebody ‘British’.” In Gorton and Denton, a Labour seat represented by Andrew Gwynne until his resignation last week, more than a quarter of voters identify as Muslim and 44 per cent as being from an ethnic minority background. read the complete article
China
International Pressure Forced China to Shift on Uyghur Camps
From initial denials, through later partial acknowledgment and “legalization,” to rapid downsizing and eventual formal closure, the Chinese government’s handling of the re-education camps in Xinjiang suggests a series of unintended shifts. At first glance, this might appear to be a pre-planned scheme: to “re-educate” millions of Uyghurs in the camps, then “release” them into other forms of control, such as coercive labor, while transferring those deemed “uneducable” to prisons. China claims that “terrorism” has been successfully eradicated and that everyone now lives in peace, with Uyghurs joyfully dancing in the streets in traditional costumes. However, a peer-reviewed analysis recently published in the journal Modern China suggests that Beijing did respond to international criticism of its policies in Xinjiang, which pushed the Chinese leadership to repeatedly adjust its approach. China moved through several stages: initially showing lax control over the narrative, then concealing the camps’ existence, subsequently acknowledging and justifying them, followed by downsizing and reframing the policy, and eventually partially abandoning the practice. read the complete article