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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In the United States, in the wake of the US-Israel war on Iran, the country is seeing a severe spike in Islamophobia adding to an already high level of hate over the past three years, meanwhile, the United Nations said that Israel has forcibly displaced more than 36,000 Palestinians across the occupied West Bank in one year, warning that illegal Israeli settlement expansion and a push to annex the territory are accelerating, and lastly, in Australia, the Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia, Aftab Malik, says he was not informed of a recent federal decision to rescind a $670,000 grant to a Shia Muslim organization. Our recommended read of the day is by Nadeine Asbali for The New Arab on how a newly adopted state definition of anti-Muslim hate speech in Britain has caused an uproar from the far-right, who say the new definition is an attack on free expression. This and more below:
United Kingdom
Is offending Muslims an inalienable right of the British people? | Recommended Read
Last week, Labour finally revealed its long-awaited definition of Islamophobia, which incidentally, it is now terming ‘anti-Muslim hate’. Some Muslims have welcomed the shift from the term ‘islamophobia’, which pathologises discrimination against Muslims as a justifiable fear. Others have accused the government of watering down the issue with vague language that does not parallel terms like ‘antisemitism’ or ‘homophobia’ that are used to protect other groups. Of course, some controversy was inevitable. However, what has developed is a wave of right-wing hysteria about the perceived right to criticise Islam being taken away (even though, spoiler alert, it hasn’t). In fact, take even a brief glance at the media coverage of this new definition, and you’d be forgiven for thinking the Labour Party had demanded the entire country become Muslim. With nuance and humanity completely out the window, sensationalist tabloid headlines have whipped up a culture-war-frenzy, warning in angry capital letters about this de facto blasphemy law that has now, apparently, been smuggled into British law. Hysteria about a definition of Islamophobia supposedly ‘curbing free speech’ has been aplenty. Angry, white columnists whose entire careers have been made on the backs of incendiary remarks about Muslims have dedicated yet more column inches to accusing the government of undermining their God-given right to criticise Islam. But that’s the point. read the complete article
United States
US sees spike in Islamophobia amid war on Iran
The US is seeing a spike in Islamophobia in the wake of the US-Israel war on Iran, adding to an already high level of hate over the past three years. A report issued on 9 March by the Centre for the Study of Organised Hate (CSOH) found that the ongoing war has triggered a surge in anti-Muslim hate online in the US. "Since the start of 2026, harmful content targeting Muslims across social media platforms has escalated at an alarming pace," reads the report, noting that the level of anti-Muslim posts had already been at a steady high since the onset of Israel's war on Gaza in October 2023. The report goes on to say that this has been compounded by hateful rhetoric by political leaders, most visibly US President Donald Trump, who has told Muslim members of Congress to go back to their countries, and House Speaker Mike Johnson, who, when referring to Iranians, has called their religion misguided. Moreover, in the US war on Iran, military leaders have invoked biblical language. According to complaints received by the Military Freedom Foundation, a commander said war was all part of "God's divine plan" and said it would "cause Armageddon". read the complete article
Anti-Muslim rhetoric rises as Zohran Mamdani embraces his Muslim faith
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has brought his Muslim faith to the center of his political life, but his effort has faced a backlash. During this Ramadan he’s hosted half a dozen public prayers and celebrations, the latest Monday night when he broke fast with incarcerated men at Rikers Island. NPR’s Brian Mann reports on how Mamdani’s efforts to celebrate his Muslim faith and the backlash that has accompanied those efforts. read the complete article
Doug Jones calls Tommy Tuberville’s anti-Muslim rhetoric ‘vile’
Former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, a Democratic candidate for Alabama governor, condemned anti-Muslim comments made by U.S. Sen. Tommy Tubervile on Tuesday, calling them “vile” and “racist and Islamophobic.” Tuberville, a Republican candidate for governor, has engaged in increasingly strident attacks on people of the Islamic faith over the last several months. Last week, Tuberville posted on X, formerly Twitter, that “the enemy is inside the gates,” including an image of the Sept. 11 attacks in New York with a picture of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the first Muslim and the first person of Asian descent to hold that position. “We have seen this before: Dog whistle rhetoric for political gain,” Jones said. “And we need good people from all across the political spectrum to stand up and counter this.” “We must make it clear that no American, or Alabamian, is our ‘enemy,’” Jones said. “We’re all in this together. And what we should be doing is standing up to anyone who seeks to divide us and put us against each other along racial or religious lines.” read the complete article
Australia
Government didn’t inform Islamophobia envoy before pulling Shia mosque funding
The Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia, Aftab Malik, says he was not told of the federal government’s decision to rescind a $670,000 grant to a Shia Muslim community organisation. “Nobody contacted me for my thoughts about that. I actually read about it in the newspaper,” Malik told Deepcut. Last week, Multiculturalism Minister Anne Aly cancelled the grant to the Taha Humanity Association of Victoria – a Shia community group largely made up of Afghan Australians – following media reports that Shia mosques had held memorial services for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran. Khamenei was assassinated in a US-Israeli airstrike on his official residence in Tehran on February 28, along with his wife, daughter, 14-month-old granddaughter and several in-laws. Mainstream media outlets and pro-Israel politicians were quick to denounce the Shia community groups that held memorials for Khamenei in Sydney and Melbourne. NSW Premier Chris Minns called the mourning “atrocious”, while Prime Minister Anthony Albanese urged mourners to uphold what he called the “Australian covenant: [that] no matter where people are from, is that if they have any hatred or prejudice, it’s left at the customs hall”. Malik also took exception to the condemnation of the memorials, emphasising that Shia communities did so out of regard for Khamenei’s status as one of Shia Islam’s foremost scholars, rather than for his political position as Iran’s head of state. “I’m not Shia myself, but I reached out to several different Shia organisations and asked what exactly about him they were mourning,” Malik said. read the complete article
International
Israel carrying out ‘mass expulsion of Palestinians’ in West Bank, UN warns
Israel has forcibly displaced more than 36,000 Palestinians across the occupied West Bank in one year, the United Nations says, warning that illegal Israeli settlement expansion and a push to annex the territory are accelerating. Tuesday’s report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights documented 1,732 incidents of Israeli settler violence causing casualties or property damage from November 2024 to the end of October last year. That amounts to a 24-percent increase from the 1,400 incidents reported over the same period a year earlier. “Settler violence continued in a coordinated, strategic and largely unchallenged manner, with Israeli authorities playing the central role in directing, participating in or enabling this conduct,” the report found. The settler attacks, combined with Israeli forced displacement orders, home demolitions and military violence, have pushed tens of thousands of Palestinians to flee their homes across the West Bank, the UN rights chief also said. read the complete article