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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In the United States, a new study out by academics at the University of Kansas evaluates the impact of Trump’s Muslim Ban on preventative healthcare, meanwhile in the United Kingdom, the British government’s intention to proscribe Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act 2000 marks a significant escalation in the treatment of civil disobedience, and in Canada, a Canadian airline is under fire after a Muslim woman was allegedly forced to remove her hijab in public at Toronto Pearson Airport. Our recommended read of the day is by Maya King for The New York Times on the historic Democratic Primary victory of Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, who if elected would be the first Muslim mayor of New York City. This and more below:
United States
Zohran Mamdani’s Success Is Especially Meaningful for Muslim New Yorkers | Recommend Read
Zohran Mamdani’s stunning performance in the Democratic mayoral primary on Tuesday amounted to a watershed moment for Muslim New Yorkers, who could see one of their own lead City Hall for the first time should he succeed in the general election in November. New York City is home to roughly one million Muslims; they made up 12 percent of the electorate in the 2021 mayoral election. Mr. Mamdani wove his faith into his campaign from its earliest days, hitting the trail while fasting for Ramadan and taking his message of affordability to mosques and Muslim community centers throughout the city. His triumph over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who led in most polls throughout the race, was driven by the diverse coalition of voters he built that included young people, people of color, and first-time and infrequent voters. Muslim voters played a large role in growing that base. The cooperation among Democrats from different backgrounds was especially heartening for some, who saw his background as an example of a new generation of leadership. Mr. Mamdani also used his faith to push back against allegations of antisemitism prompted by his outspoken criticism of Israel and support for Palestinians in Gaza. In the final days of the campaign, he tearfully recounted death threats he and his family had received, explaining the fear and anxiety caused by such threats on the grounds of a person’s religion. Mr. Lander, who is Jewish, sought to project unity between the two faiths at his election night watch party, saying, “We are not going to let anyone divide Muslim New Yorkers and Jewish New Yorkers.” read the complete article
‘Muslim Ban’ decreased preventative care for children of Middle Eastern ancestry, study finds
“We want to highlight one small aspect of the significant cost of anti-Muslim rhetoric on the communities which it targets. The Muslim Ban did not directly prevent individuals in the U.S. from traveling to and from the designated countries. However, its language created a sense of fear and mistrust among the community, reducing their engagement in health care,” said David Slusky, professor of economics at the University of Kansas. In a new paper titled “The Muslim Ban and Preventive Care for Children of Middle Eastern Ancestry,” Slusky and his co-authors evaluate the impact of this policy on preventive care use among Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) ancestry children in the U.S., finding decreased well-visits and associated vaccinations. The article appears in the Forum for Health Economics and Policy. Co-written by Shooshan Danagoulian and Owen Fleming of Wayne State University and Daniel Grossman of West Virginia University, the research uses a large, longitudinal medical records database to evaluate the effect of this policy. It finds that prior to the policy, MENA children had higher rates of well-visits compared to non-Hispanic white children. The monthly frequency of these visits declined by 20% after January 2017, resulting in a 6% cumulative decrease in visits in the post-period. It also reveals a 12.5% decrease in total vaccinations for MENA children compared to non-Hispanic white children after the policy. read the complete article
CAIR Sues Meta for Firing Muslim Employee Over Pro-Palestine, Anti-Genocide Advocacy
The Legal Defense Fund of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, filed a lawsuit today against Meta for discriminatory treatment and termination of behalf of Mohammed Feras Majeed over pro-Palestine, anti-genocide advocacy. CAIR’s lawsuit, filed In the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas Austin Division, alleges that Meta violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Chapter 21 of the Texas Labor Code. It states in part: “Meta discriminated against Plaintiff based on his religious identity as a Muslim by forcing him to choose between expressing his sincerely held religious belief and maintaining his employment. Meta silenced Plaintiff’s expressions of religious solidarity with the Muslim community during the ongoing genocide in Gaza—a subject central to Plaintiff’s faith—while permitting similarly situated non-Muslim employees to speak freely about other humanitarian and political crises.” The lawsuit seeks an injunction prohibiting further religious discrimination by Meta, removal of negative references from the plaintiff’s personnel record, annual religious sensitivity training for Meta management, and compensatory and punitive damages. read the complete article
'I never thought the US tortured people but I was tortured': Ex-Guantanamo prisoner Slahi
A man who spent 14 years in prison without charge in Guantanamo Bay until his release in 2016 has spoken to FRANCE 24 about his experience of suffering torture there. Mohamedou Ould Slahi is an engineer from Mauritania who was accused by the US of recruiting for and providing other support for al Qaeda in Afghanistan and even of being involved in organising the 9/11 attacks. While in Guantanamo he says he was subjected to a range of torture methods – from sleep deprivation, to isolation, to beatings. His story was documented in his memoir, "Guantanamo Diary", and was turned into a star-studded 2021 film, "The Mauritanian", which tells the story of him and his lawyer who succeeded in obtaining his release. He spoke to us in Perspective. read the complete article
Zohran Mamdani and the Making of a “Muslim Menace”
In a campaign mailer designed by a PAC supporting disgraced former New York governor and current mayoral hopeful Andrew Cuomo, Queens assembly member Zohran Mamdani’s image appears with his beard digitally altered to look longer, fuller, and darker. This manipulation invokes tired Islamophobic tropes that cast bearded brown Muslim men as dangerous, violent, and in Mamdani’s case, unfit for public office. While the mailer was never distributed by Cuomo’s camp, the image leaked online. Mamdani responded to the image by calling it what it was: Islamophobic and “meant to make me look threatening.” Moreover, the manipulated beard image is a part of a long-standing tradition in American politics: altering minoritized candidates’ physical features to further racist, Islamophobic, and antisemitic tropes, and cast them as inherently other. Cuomo’s camp condemned the altered image, but this smear was not an isolated incident: it was part of a broader pattern. As Mamdani’s campaign has surged in the final days before New York’s Democratic mayoral primary—which ends Tuesday—he has faced a wave of coded and overt attacks. Cuomo has warned voters that to elect Mamdani would be “reckless and dangerous.” Mamdani has also received multiple death threats replete with Islamophobic language, calling him “a terrorist who is not welcome in New York or America.” These attacks are not just about politics. They are also about identity. Mamdani, a Twelver Shia Muslim, African-born immigrant, and democratic socialist, represents a challenge to entrenched racial, religious, and political hierarchies. As with other progressive politicians of color, from Ilhan Omar to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the backlash against him reveals the limits of establishment tolerance for candidates who refuse to conform. read the complete article
United Kingdom
Muslim emergency workers welcome new law closing loophole on abuse
Muslim emergency workers have welcomed proposed new laws to tackle racial and religious abuse towards firefighters, ambulance staff and police responding to calls in private homes. The measures, introduced under Labour’s crime and policing bill, seek to close the loophole that protects emergency workers from racial and religious abuse in public but not inside people’s homes. It is not currently an offence to racially or religiously abuse another person in a private home — a gap in the law that was originally supposed to prevent people from being prosecuted for private conversations. Shumel Rahman, a paramedic who has worked for the North East Ambulance Service for more than a decade, said: “Sometimes society thinks that because we’re public servants, they can treat us any way they want. Some people’s behaviour is absolutely unacceptable and hopefully this will make people think twice about their actions.” In March, an NHS staff survey found that attacks on frontline workers had increased since 2023. In 2024 alone, about one in seven NHS staff (14%) experienced physical violence of some sort from patients, their relatives or members of the public. Discrimination also reached its highest level in five years, with 9.25% of staff reporting such incidents involving patients and the public, and more than half saying that the abuse they faced was based on their ethnic background. read the complete article
The Guardian view on Palestine Action: if red paint is terrorism, what isn’t?
The UK government’s intention to proscribe Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act 2000 marks a significant escalation in the treatment of civil disobedience. It elevates a group known for throwing red paint at buildings and military aircraft into the same legal category as al-Qaida and Islamic State. If there’s a serious threat from these activists, we’ve yet to see it – just a ministerial statement discussing civil disobedience in the language of counterinsurgency. If this is all that Palestine Action can be accused of, then the government is wrong. Ministers are setting a dangerous precedent by using terror laws to outlaw protest – and penalising protesters not for violence but for making a nuisance and vandalism. The cost will be felt in press freedom, political accountability and the right to resist. The home secretary’s statement says that Palestine Action’s activities “meet the threshold” for terrorism under the law, yet fails to specify how the group’s actions – which consist primarily of damage to property, not threats to life – satisfy the statutory requirement of intending to influence the government or intimidate the public through serious violence or threats. If this passes, the threshold of terrorism will have been lowered from plotting to plant bombs or take hostages to daubing aircraft or chaining oneself to doors – activities once associated with anti-nuclear and anti-apartheid activists. read the complete article
Canada
Canadian airline under fire after Muslim woman told to remove hijab
A Canadian airline is under fire after a Muslim woman was allegedly forced to remove her hijab, or headscarf, in public at Toronto Pearson Airport on June 20 before boarding a flight to Winnipeg. Afsara Raidah, the woman's daughter, shared the incident on social media, saying her mother was "humiliated" by "a Flair Airlines employee" at the gate for flight F8641. "Flair Airlines, you violated my mother's rights and humiliated her at Toronto Pearson Airport today. We will not stay silent," she wrote. "This was Islamophobia. This was a violation of my mother's religious freedom and basic human rights. It happened in Canada, a country that claims to value diversity, inclusion, and respect," she said. Raidah also said the employee insisted that her mother remove her hijab because her passport photo was taken before she began wearing it, even though her face was fully visible. When her father objected, the staff member allegedly replied: "Well, you should've updated your passport picture." Transport Canada rules state that religious head coverings such as the hijab do not need to be removed as long as the person's face is visible. read the complete article