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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In India, a top court ruled that restaurants cannot be forced to display the names of their owners, suspending police orders in two northern states that critics had said could foment discrimination against Muslims, meanwhile in the US, after three windows of a mosque in Gastonia North Carolina were broken over the weekend, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is calling on law enforcement authorities to investigate a possible bias motive for the attack, and in France, CAGE International has unveiled a new report on the Paris Olympics, which “reveals that Muslim athletes and visitors from Muslim-majority countries face significant barriers and discrimination, undermining the spirit of equality and respect central to the Olympic ethos.” Our recommended read of the day is by Mansoor Adayfi for The New Arab on his experience of torture and imprisonment at Guantanamo Bay and how “US tactics of terror…mirrored those used by Israeli forces against Palestinians – tactics designed to dehumanise, degrade, and demoralise.” This and more below:
International
As an ex-Guantanamo prisoner, I stand with Gaza against US terror | Recommended Read
For nine long months, we've watched a genocide unfold, unparalleled in its barbarity. Orchestrated by the Israeli government, and fuelled by its insatiable urge to destroy the Palestinian people in Gaza and beyond, the rising number of injured, displaced, and killed is a testament to the horrors Israel commits in real time. The mask has well and truly slipped. Israel has been exposed as a profoundly disruptive and destabilising force; a grim spectre over Palestinian life. Finally, the world is waking up to Israel's genocidal designs. Watching students across the United States rise against Israel's aggression in Gaza brought back memories of my own upbringing. I know how they feel. I witnessed what they witnessed. I was just like them at their age. I would later find out what drove these soldiers to torture and maim. While I write this, memories flood back to when I was unjustly imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay for 15 years without charge, a place designed to strip away humanity, break spirits, and erase existence. Guantanamo is more than a physical location; it's a symbol of injustice and oppression. It was there that I was exposed to not only the brutality of the US military but the complicity of others, including Israel. US tactics of terror, I would later find out, mirrored those used by Israeli forces against Palestinians – tactics designed to dehumanise, degrade, and demoralise. read the complete article
A new book shows how 9/11 helped Israel become a surveillance state and military superpower
The September 11, 2001, terror attacks on New York and Washington turbocharged Israel’s defence sector and internationalised the war on terror that the Jewish state had been fighting for decades. On the night of the attack, former Prime Minister Netanyahu was asked on American TV what the attacks had meant for relations between the two nations. “It’s very good,” he immediately said. He quickly corrected himself: “Well, not very good, but it will generate immediate sympathy.” He thought that the assault might “strengthen the bond between our two peoples, because we’ve experienced terror over so many decades, but the United States has now experienced a massive haemorrhaging of terror.” Seven years later, in April 2008, Netanyahu gave a speech at Israel’s Bar Ilan University and reiterated the same message. “We are benefiting from one thing, and that is the attack on the Twin Towers and Pentagon, and the American struggle in Iraq,” he said. These events had “swung American public opinion in our favour.” Israel had products that the world wanted. Its arms industry fully embraced the homeland security sector, bringing in billions of dollars in revenue for missiles, drones, and surveillance equipment. The message was unambiguous: “We have been fighting a War on Terror since our birth. We’ll show you how it’s done.” After the 2008 global financial crisis, Israel’s resilience in the face of economic collapse was spun into a narrative of unique self-determination. The collective belief among Israeli Jews in supporting a Jewish-majority state was supposedly essential for developing world-class weapons and technology. One Israeli entrepreneur, Jon Medved, compared this unfavourably to the US: “When it comes to US military resumes, Silicon Valley is illiterate. What a waste of kick-ass leadership talent coming out of Iraq and Afghanistan.” This kind of thinking led to more than a decade of Netanyahu pushing for Israel to become one of the world’s leading tech developers, with expertise in weapons, surveillance and cyber tools. read the complete article
India
India court suspends order to restaurants to display owners' names after anti-Muslim bias concerns
India's top court ruled on Monday that restaurants cannot be forced to display the names of their owners, suspending police orders in two northern states that critics had said could foment discrimination against Muslims. Police in the two states, both ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu-nationalist party, gave oral orders in at least two districts requiring restaurants to put the names of their owners on display boards. Police said this would help avoid disputes for thousands of Hindu pilgrims who travel on foot to sacred sites during a holy month, many of whom follow dietary restrictions, such as eating no meat during their journey. But a Supreme Court bench ruled on Monday that while restaurants could be expected to state the type of food they serve, including whether it is vegetarian, they "must not be forced" to display the name and identities of owners. A few allies of Modi and leaders of opposition parties had criticised the police orders, saying they feared they would deepen the communal divide and lead to Hindus avoiding restaurants employing Muslims. Political foes accuse Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of targeting India's roughly 200 million minority Muslims for electoral gains, which Modi and the BJP both deny. read the complete article
India's Modi govt to allow officials join Hindu extremist group
The Indian government, led by Narendra Modi, will allow civil servants to join a far-right Hindu nationalist group, according to a government memo made public Monday. Several top leaders of Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including the PM himself, cut their teeth at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), whose millions of members conduct paramilitary drills and prayer meetings. The organization campaigns for India to be declared a Hindu nation – rather than a secular one, as enshrined in its constitution – and critics accuse it of fomenting sectarian divisions. Since 1966, Indian civil service rules have banned government employees from membership or participation in the activities of the RSS and the Islamic political party, Jamaat-e-Islami. However, a new official memorandum issued earlier this month and made public on Monday by BJP publicity chief Amit Malviya stated: "It has been decided to remove the mention" of RSS from the rule. In a post on X, Malviya said the rule was an "unconstitutional order issued 58 years ago." The government memorandum did not mention Jamaat-e-Islami. Opposition leaders lashed out at the amendment. read the complete article
As India Orders Names On Food Stalls, Muslims Feed Hindu Pilgrims In Kashmir
As Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath of the Bhartiya Janta Party ordered names of owners on Kanwar Yatra stalls in the country’s largest province of Uttar Pradesh in Kashmir, Muslims are feeding Hindu pilgrims during the ongoing Amarnath Yatra. Kanvar Yatra is an annual pilgrimage of devotees of Lord Shiva — known as Kanvarias — to Hindu pilgrimage places of Haridwar, Gaumukh and Gangotri. The Uttar Pradesh government's new rule for the Kanvar Yatra route, however, has sparked widespread debate. According to the new directive, food shops are required to display the owners' names, leading to a variety of reactions. Indian actor Sonu Sood weighed in on social media, stating, “There should be only one nameplate on every shop: ‘HUMANITY.’” Meanwhile, BJP member of Parliament and Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut responded: “Agree, Halal should be replaced with ‘HUMANITY.’” Indian screenwriter Javed Akhtar criticized the directive, comparing it to practices in Nazi Germany. The UP government has defended the rule, claiming it’s about respecting Hindu pilgrims’ faith during the Kanwar Yatra. The government has announced plans to crack down on shops selling Halal-certified products. The order was paused this past Monday, but the move — to ensure no that pilgrims buy from Muslim-owned shops — has cast a pall on what is otherwise a wonderful event. read the complete article
United States
Kentucky man charged with federal hate crime for threats to Palestinian American
A Kentucky man was arrested and charged with a federal hate crime for threatening a Palestinian American man with a loaded gun, the U.S. Justice Department said on Monday, opens new tab, in a step welcomed by advocates documenting rising Islamophobia. The Justice Department said the incident occurred at the end of March, without giving further details. It identified the suspect as Melvin P. Litteral III and the victim only by his initials, O.S. The indictment also included a weapons charge. Litteral could not immediately be contacted. Human rights advocates have noted a rise in Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian bias and antisemitism in the U.S. since the start of Israel's war in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands and caused a humanitarian crisis. The Council on American Islamic Relations advocacy group welcomed the indictment. CAIR says complaints of anti-Muslim U.S. incidents totaled 8,061 in 2023, the highest since it began records nearly 30 years ago. read the complete article
Psychologist Who Waterboarded C.I.A. Prisoners Defends Method’s Use in 9/11 Case
In the years after the C.I.A. waterboarded the man accused of plotting the Sept. 11 attacks, the agency offered explanations of how he withstood the technique 183 times at a secret overseas prison. The prisoner, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, was strapped to a gurney with his head tilted down and a cloth covering his face. Somehow, the theory went, he realized that his captors would pour water on the cloth for at most 40 seconds at a time. So he used his fingers to count until he could breathe again as he experienced the sensation of drowning. This week, at a hearing in the case, Mr. Mohammed’s lawyer, Gary D. Sowards, offered an alternative explanation while questioning a psychologist who administered the waterboarding. Some Muslims, including Mr. Mohammed, repeatedly put a thumb to the inside of each finger three times as they say a prayer praising Allah, Mr. Sowards said. Some also point upward, as if to the sky, when they believe they are taking their last gasps of life — a gesture some C.I.A. observers interpreted as Mr. Mohammed signaling that the time limit was approaching on that round of simulated drowning, and to let him breathe. No prisoner in U.S. history is known to have been subjected to the technique as many times as Mr. Mohammed. And while waterboarding has been discussed and described periodically during hearings since his arraignment in 2012, this week’s testimony offered a clinical discussion of how C.I.A. representatives repeatedly used it and evaluated its efficacy in a secret prison in Poland in March 2003. The military judge in the case is trying to decide whether the confessions of Mr. Mohammed and the other Sept. 11 defendants are tainted by torture. If so, they would not be admissible at their eventual capital trial. read the complete article
CAIR Calls for Probe of Possible Bias Motive for Vandalism Targeting North Carolina Mosque
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on law enforcement authorities to investigate a possible bias motive for vandalism targeting a mosque in North Carolina. Three windows were reportedly broken Sunday evening at a mosque in Gastonia. North Carolina. Nathan Reynolds Webster, 32, was arrested and charged with breaking the windows at the Islamic Society of Gastonia. “Because the vandalism targeted a house of worship, and because of the rise in bias-motivated incidents in recent months, we urge state and federal law enforcement authorities to investigate a possible bias motive in this case,” said CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper. He urged houses of worship to utilize CAIR’s Best Practices for Mosque and Community Safety guide, which contains security advice applicable to institutions of all faiths. Earlier this year, CAIR released new civil rights data showing that it has received 3,578 complaints during the last three months of 2023 amid an ongoing wave of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian hate. read the complete article
France
The Games of Shame: CAGE International to Unveil Critical Report on Paris 2024 Olympics
Today CAGE International will unveil a groundbreaking report titled “The Games of Shame: Can the 2024 Paris Olympics Whitewash Genocide and Widespread Exclusion?” The report exposes the alarming levels of Islamophobia and anti-social discrimination embedded within the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The Olympics, traditionally a symbol of global unity and inclusivity, offer the host nation an unparalleled opportunity to showcase its cultural and social values. However, CAGE International’s report critically examines how the Paris 2024 Olympics have already compromised these values, highlighting France’s troubling record on Islamophobia, particularly within the realms of sports as well as the government’s ongoing support for the genocide taking place in Gaza. The report reveals that Muslim athletes and visitors from Muslim-majority countries face significant barriers and discrimination, undermining the spirit of equality and respect central to the Olympic ethos. The research also highlights how the government is using the games to whitewash its complicity in the crimes against humanity taking place in Gaza. read the complete article