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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In Australia, three in four Muslim healthcare workers surveyed by a team from Federation University Australia said they had faced discrimination for their religious beliefs at work, highlighting a “hidden crisis” in the Australian healthcare industry, meanwhile in the United States, New York City Mayor Eric Adams has withdrawn from from an event he was to attend next week at an Indian cultural center in Queens after it was announced that Hindu nationalist activist Kajal Shingala was set to attend, and in India, thousands of Indian Muslims are being systematically detained, blindfolded, and forcibly expatriated to Bangladesh under the justification of “national security”. Our recommended read of the day is by Steve Benen for MSNBC on how silence from GOP leaders in the face of Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) ongoing anti-Muslim bigotry targeting fellow members of Congress, signals to the public that anti-Muslim attitudes in the party are “tolerated.” This and more below:
United States
Why are Republican leaders silent about Rep. Randy Fine’s anti-Muslim rhetoric? | Recommended Read
The Florida Republican specifically wrote via social media, in a message directed at the Minnesota Democrat: “I’m sure it is difficult to see us welcome the killer of so many of your fellow Muslim terrorists. The only shame is that you serve in Congress.” Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland responded soon after, “I know you’re new to Congress, Mr. Fine, but we don’t call our colleagues terrorists here. It just makes you look idiotic.” The entirety of the House Democratic leadership issued a related joint written statement around the same time. “The unhinged, racist and Islamophobic comments made by Randy Fine about Rep. Ilhan Omar are bigoted and disgusting,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Minority Whip Katherine Clark and Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar. Of course, the question isn’t whether the far-right Floridian is likely to express any contrition — it’s a safe bet that he will not — rather, the question is why Fine’s fellow Republicans on Capitol Hill have so little to say about this. In theory, this shouldn’t be a tough call: It’d be easy for GOP leaders to make clear, at least in some capacity, that they disapprove of anti-Muslim rhetoric. But House Speaker Mike Johnson and his Republican leadership team have, to date, responded to Fine’s offensive message with silence and apparent indifference. As recently as last fall, Republicans made gains with Arab and Muslim voters. The party doesn’t seem especially eager to return the favor. On the contrary, GOP officials appear to be sending an unmistakable signal: In the contemporary Republican Party, anti-Muslim attitudes are, at a minimum, tolerated. As for the larger context, Fine’s rhetoric comes against a backdrop of related Islamophobic animus from Donald Trump and his administration. read the complete article
Eric Adams Withdraws From Event Honoring Anti-Muslim Activist
New York City Mayor Eric Adams was slated to attend an event in Queens next week featuring a prominent far-right Hindu activist, according to the event’s organizers, before withdrawing yesterday, a day after New York Focus sent inquiries about his attendance. The event, a dinner at an Indian cultural center in Fresh Meadows, Queens, will feature Indian Hindu nationalist activist Kajal Shingala, whose speeches frequently feature calls for violence against Muslims in India and boycotts of non-Hindu businesses. “She is one of the most prolific Hindu far-right orators,” said Raqib Hameed Naik, who runs an organization tracking hate speech in India that has catalogued dozens of Shingala’s speeches. “She has been at the forefront of promoting anti-Muslim, anti-Christian hate, bigotry, and speeches that incite violence.” read the complete article
Omar Suleiman: An edited clip about me has gone viral
A 15-year-old video clip of me, edited and stripped of context, is circulating again. In it, I appear to say, “We believe the Constitution should be replaced by the Quran.” The video has gone viral across right-wing social media. As intended, it spread like wildfire, despite the truth and because of how easy it has become to believe a lie about a Muslim leader. The irony? The original, unedited clip was actually about former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who once said the U.S. Constitution should be amended “so it’s in God’s standards.” In context, I said, “It wasn’t Muslims that said we believe the Constitution should be replaced by the Quran, it was Huckabee who said the Constitution should be replaced by the Bible.” And the irony runs even deeper. Huckabee is now the U.S. ambassador to Israel, helping to drive a reckless foreign policy agenda. But no one is editing his statements. No one is distorting his intentions. Instead, they’re editing mine trying to convince Americans that the real threat is a Muslim speaking about double standards 15 years ago. On X, TikTok and Instagram, the doctored video has been shared by massive accounts with a total of millions of followers, amassing views in the hundreds of thousands. And it’s not just anonymous trolls. Alexander Duncan, a congressional candidate in Texas, shared it knowingly. I publicly corrected the record. He posted it again. A lie believed is stronger than the truth ignored. This is the new face of Islamophobia in America. Reactionary, rapid and deeply personal. It’s not just an attack on my character but an attempt to render American Muslim leadership illegitimate. To paint our very participation in civic life as evidence of some subversive takeover. And it’s all working as intended. read the complete article
Republican Lawmaker Calls Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Zohran Mamdani 'Muslim Terrorists' – Will He Be Censured?
“Muslim terrorists.” That’s what newly elected Republican congressman Randy Fine called Reps. Ilhan Omar (Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), as well as New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. The comments sparked a rare condemnation from House Democratic leadership – Reps. Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), Katherine Clark (Mass.), and Pete Aguilar (Calif.) called on Fine to apologize. Fine, who refers to himself as the “Hebrew Hammer,” has only doubled down since. “The Hamas Caucus is upset. Boo hoo. I guess they weren't listening when I said the Hebrew Hammer was coming,” Fine said in response to the condemnation. Fine has continued his vicious screed against his colleagues, with no pushback from his fellow Republicans (who have been very concerned with “civility”). He has also met relatively little material pushback from the rest of the political apparatus. This time around, Fine is smearing and vilifying his own colleagues and making broad, violent statements about an entire religion. And while Fine’s comments about Omar have drawn much attention, other comments (let alone from the past) have gotten relatively little attention. While some Democrats, alongside leadership, have issued sharp rebukes of Fine’s comments, few – Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley and Arizona Rep. Yassamin Ansari – have publicly called for his censure. read the complete article
United Kingdom
'Our mosque was threatened after the 7/7 bombings'
On 7 July 2005, a series of explosions on London's public transport system killed 52 people and injured more than 770. The actions of the bombers, all British Muslims, affected Muslim communities - both immediately and in the long term. Dilowar Khan, then an executive director at East London Mosque, described "a very tense time for all of us". He said the community felt anti-Muslim hatred, with women in particular afraid to leave their homes; that the mosque received "a number of bomb threats", and its windows were smashed. Another incident involved "a good number of men who came down and urinated in front of the main entrance". Although the mosque publicly condemned the attacks, Mr Khan said many Muslims in the community faced increased scrutiny, suspicion and hostility. "Shortly after the incident, we received a couple of bomb threats," he said. "I remember it was two Fridays actually. Friday is the busiest day for the mosque and so we had to call the police. "We also received white powder by post, and again we had to call the police. “Fortunately, it wasn't anthrax." He said many Muslim women were "afraid to go on the bus and the underground" even though one of the congregation of his mosque, a young woman in her 20s, was killed in the bombing. "Women's hijabs were pulled, they were spat on. read the complete article
Australia
Doctors face Islamophobia in Australian healthcare 'crisis', research shows
Three in four Muslim healthcare workers surveyed had faced discrimination for their religious beliefs, the study found. Researchers said the study highlighted a "hidden crisis" in the Australian healthcare workforce. A total of 358 healthcare professionals participated across the country. Of those, 85 per cent were Muslim, and 83 per cent identified as a member of a culturally and linguistically diverse community. Federation University Australia Professor Dr Muhammad Aziz Rahman, one of the academics who led the research, said it was one of the first Australian studies to systematically explore how Islamophobia, religious discrimination, and cultural bias affected those working in the healthcare system. "This research clearly shows that Islamophobia and discrimination are experienced by healthcare workers regardless of their faith or background," Professor Rahman said. The study showed Muslim women had been some of the most impacted by Islamophobia. The study showed female Muslim professionals faced "additional layers of discrimination related to gender, religious identity, and physical appearance". read the complete article
Bosnia & Herzegovina
‘The voices of our dead have not faded away’: the fight for the memory of genocide in Srebrenica
Three decades after genocide was committed in the middle of Europe, memories in the rest of world are beginning to fade, helped along by a relentless effort by the perpetrators and their allies to cover up evidence. But the sprawling murder scene in the hills and fields around Srebrenica continues to cough up its bones. In the town of Bratunac, 6 miles (10km) north of Srebrenica town, a group burial was performed recently of victims’ remains that had been identified over the course of the preceding year. Imams gathered from across the country to pray before a line of six coffins draped in the blue and gold Bosnian flag. He lingered by the graves before following the rest of the crowd down a narrow road that leads from the Muslim cemetery to Bratunac’s main road. Serb police kept the traffic moving but otherwise there was no interaction with the mourners as they boarded buses to leave town. Local Serbs went about their business without making eye contact. It was as if the mourners, having buried their dead, had themselves become invisible as ghosts. Most of the Serb population came to Bratunac from elsewhere in Bosnia after the town’s Muslim population was killed or driven out. Many of them occupy the homes of the dead. The genocide is not a subject of conversation, though the town and the whole valley leading up to Srebrenica has an infamous place in the history books. “The complete silence that came after the war has evolved into literally celebrating genocide,” said Hariz Halilovich, a Srebrenica-born author, anthropologist and professor at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. “And it’s not some kind of isolated hate speech that happens here and there. It has gradually become completely mainstream.” read the complete article
India
In India’s deportation drive, Muslim men recount being tossed into the sea
Indian police dragged Hasan Shah from his bed in western India one morning in late April. Later, he said, officers bound his hands with rope, placed a blindfold over his eyes and put him on a boat bound for Bangladesh. After three days at sea, Shah said, they stood him on the edge of the vessel with a life vest, untied his hands, uncovered his eyes and gave him a final order at gunpoint: “Jump into the water,” Shah remembered the officers saying. “If you look back, we’ll shoot you.” Shah said he swam to dry land, where he was picked up by the Bangladeshi coast guard and taken to the city of Satkhira, in the country’s southwest, an account corroborated by the coast guard. The documents proving his Indian citizenship were snatched by police when they detained him in his hometown of Surat in India, Shah said. He is stranded now in a foreign country, effectively stateless, separated from his wife and four children who rely on his meager income as a waste picker. “This isn’t my home,” he said near the steps of a courthouse in Satkhira. “I need to go back to India. I need to get back to my kids.” He is one of thousands of people, most of them Muslims, who have had their lives upended by the Indian government after an April attack by militants killed 26 people in the Himalayan vacation town of Pahalgam, in Indian-administered Kashmir. As sectarian tensions swelled across India, Gujarat’s home minister, Harsh Sanghavi, pledged to root out “each and every infiltrator.” Officials ordered raids in slums populated by Muslim laborers, branding most of those detained as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh who posed a threat to national security. While some of those targeted lacked legal status, many appeared to be Indian citizens; others were legal residents after living in the country for decades, family members said. read the complete article