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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In Australia, police are urgently investigating online threats against two mosques in Sydney’s southwest which referenced the 2019 Christchurch massacre, meanwhile in the United States, a 12-year-old student is facing a hate crime charge in juvenile court after allegedly being part of a group that attacked twin seventh-grade Muslim students at their middle school in Waterbury, Connecticut, and in Canada, Kaley-Ann Freier, a 25-year-old woman from Ajax, Ont. is facing several charges after allegedly assaulting and attempting to light a woman’s hijab on fire inside a library according to reports released by the Durham Regional Police Service (DRPS). Our recommended read of the day is by TRT Global on how the pro-Israel, anti-Islam think tank, Middle East Forum is taking public credit for the targeting of Georgetown University postdoc, Dr. Badar Khan Suri, praising the Trump administration’s detention of Suri. This and more below:
United States
Pro-Israel group boasts role in the detention of Georgetown researcher | Recommended Read
A pro-Israel think tank openly takes credit for the framing that led to the detention of Badar Khan Suri, proudly linking its investigation into his family to the arrival of DHS agents at his doorstep. The claim about Suri’s alleged “close connections” appears to refer to his Palestinian father-in-law, Ahmed Yousef, who previously served as an adviser to the late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. However, Yousef stepped down from that role over a decade ago and has since publicly criticised Hamas’s decision to launch the October 7 attacks, according to reports. Suri’s attorney, Hassan Ahmad, argued that he was targeted solely for his social media posts and his wife’s Palestinian identity and activism. It didn’t take long for a pro-Israel organisation to claim credit for uncovering details about Suri’s Palestinian wife’s family. Shortly after news of his detention spread, the Middle East Forum (MEF) published a blog post boasting about its role in bringing Suri to the attention of US authorities. “Hamas-Linked Georgetown Academic Faces Deportation Following MEF Report,” the organisation declared in a headline, explicitly linking its efforts to the Trump administration’s decision to deport Suri. The headline refers to a report published on February 24, nearly a month before Suri’s detention. The report connects Suri to his father-in-law, Ahmed Yousef. In a blog post published after Suri’s arrest, MEF praised the Trump administration for taking action against Suri while criticising Georgetown University for its inaction, apparently despite its investigative work identifying and publicizing Suri as “someone so openly sympathetic to terrorism”. MEF’s founder and president, Daniel Pipes, went even further on X, directly linking the group’s investigative work to the arrival of masked DHS agents at Suri’s doorstep. “Thanks to her work, @DHSgov…arrested Suri and plans to deport him,” he wrote, referring to Anna Stanley, the producer of the article. read the complete article
UCLA task force found ‘serious instances of racism’ against students protesting on behalf of Palestinians
It is disturbing to see that the L.A. Times coverage of the Justice Department’s allegations of antisemitism at the University of California notes only in the last paragraph that there have been accusations of “anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian bias at UCLA and other UC campuses since 2023” (“Justice Department launches investigation into allegations of antisemitism at UC,” March 5). In fact, UCLA established a task force on anti-Palestinian, anti-Muslim and anti-Arab racism in 2023 at the same time as it established the task force on anti-Israel bias. The task force on anti-Palestinian, anti-Muslim and anti-Arab racism, which we co-chair, has produced no less than three substantive reports documenting serious instances of racism, as well as evidence of surveillance and policing of students and faculty engaging in their constitutionally protected right to free speech and protest — penalizing the advocacy of Palestinian rights and speech on Palestine. Repression is organized and bolstered by university and nonuniversity actors who can harness right-wing media to promote their agendas to the broader public, the Board of Regents and ultimately the U.S. Congress. The power that such individuals possess is formidable. Very key to this power is institutional approval and support for these activities. Your article colludes with the suppression of speech and the limits on academic freedom when it fails to discuss the documented acts of discrimination against Palestinians, Muslims, Arabs and anyone expressing support for Palestinian human rights at UCLA. read the complete article
12-year-old accused of a hate crime after two Muslim students are attacked at their Connecticut middle school
A 12-year-old student is facing a hate crime charge in juvenile court after allegedly being part of a group that attacked twin seventh grade Muslim students at their middle school in Waterbury, Connecticut, authorities said Friday. The girl allegedly involved in the altercation was charged with intimidation based on bigotry and bias in the first and second degree through a court-issued summons to juvenile court. “Investigators determined that the altercation was motivated by religion and/or ethnicity, meeting the legal definition of a hate crime,” according to a joint statement by the Waterbury State’s Attorney’s Office, Waterbury police and city officials. The twin 13-year-old girls had their hijabs pulled off and were kicked and punched in the girls’ locker room during their gym period, according to Farhan Memon, chair of the Connecticut chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations. “They were beaten up by two of their classmates,” Memon said. “One girl had bruises on her face and her sister had something held against her neck.” One of the girls felt something slide across her neck, resulting in an abrasion on her neck, Memon told CNN. The girls’ father took them to the hospital where doctors documented bruises and scrapes to the face, nose and neck, Memon added. read the complete article
The Indian scholar arrested in US over Palestine sympathies
It was an invitation from a classmate 15 years ago that changed the life of the Indian scholar, who is now facing deportation from the US over terror charges. On that summer evening, Badar Khan Suri had been sitting outside his department at Delhi's Jamia Millia Islamia university when a classmate announced that an international aid convoy was set to go to Gaza - the Palestinian territory run by the armed Islamist group Hamas and under blockade by Israel. To students of conflict studies, the caravan - of more than 150 people from several Asian countries - offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to witness one of the world's most contentious disputes up close. It was during this trip that he met Mapheze Saleh, a Palestinian and the daughter of a former Hamas adviser, whom he married a few months later. After living in Delhi for almost a decade, the couple moved to the US where Mr Suri joined the prestigious Georgetown University as a postdoctoral fellow. He had been living in Virginia for nearly three years when the police knocked on his door on the evening of 17 March and arrested him. Three days later, on 20 March, Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, tweeted that Mr Suri was being detained for his "close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, a senior adviser to Hamas". He has denied the allegations. Although Mr Suri, who entered the US legally on a student visa, has had his deportation blocked by a US court, the terror allegations have shocked those who know him back home. read the complete article
More Than 1,200 Sign Open Letter Calling for Khan Suri’s Release
More than 1,200 people, including Georgetown University faculty, staff, students and other community members, signed an open letter demanding the release of Badar Khan Suri, a Georgetown researcher detained by federal immigration services March 17. Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine (FSJP), an organization of Georgetown employees who support Palestinian self-determination, released the “Open Letter Against the Repression of Free Speech & Academic Freedom” on March 21. At a March 23 protest on Georgetown’s campus, speakers further encouraged protestors to sign the letter and push for Khan Suri’s release. Federal immigration agents detained Khan Suri, a postdoctoral researcher in Georgetown’s Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, on March 17 outside his home in Rosslyn, Va. He is currently being held in a detention center in Alvarado, Texas, according to a federal online locator of detainees. read the complete article
Australia
Police investigate threats against Sydney mosques
Police are urgently investigating online threats against two mosques in Sydney’s southwest which referenced the 2019 Christchurch massacre. Authorities say the incidents this week are believed to be linked. The newly-appointed Australian Envoy to Combat Islamophobia says it's a deeply disturbing example of anti-Muslim hate. read the complete article
'Missed the Mark': Labor removes meme based on racist t-shirt
Federal Labor has pulled down a social media post that re-purposes a racist slogan to promote its support for Medicare in an embarrassing misstep that raises questions about the party’s vetting processes on the eve of the election. The post from the ALP’s primary Facebook account, which was removed after questions from this masthead on Monday, shows a man wearing a T-shirt that states: “This is Australia. We eat meat, we drink beer and we love Medicare”. But the shirt and slogan bear a striking resemblance to a shirt and a slogan used by white supremacists to express racist sentiment. The original T-shirt, which has circulated in Australia for more than a decade, reads: “This is Australia. We eat meat, we drink beer and we speak f---in’ English”. White supremacist Michael Harcrow, a Neo-Nazi who once left a pig’s head outside a mosque in Queensland and who has a swastika tattoo, has posted pictures of himself on social media wearing the T-shirt, according to a report in the Courier-Mail in 2019. Museums Victoria, which has a similar shirt in its collection as an artifact of Australian racism, describes it as exhibiting one of a series of slogans that “are racist and seek to define Australian identity by excluding ‘the other’ and by excluding anyone who dares to voice criticism”. read the complete article
What happens when Muslims are made to feel like strangers in their own country?
On Friday, 21 March, a violent online threat was posted on the TikTok page of the United Muslims of Australia Mosque in Padstow. The threat made reference to the murder of 51 Muslim worshippers in Christchurch, New Zealand, by an Australian terrorist in 2019. The previous day, the Imam Ali Ibn Abi Talib Mosque, also known as Lakemba Mosque, received three online threats referencing the same massacre on its TikTok account. These threats were issued three weeks after an Australian adolescent allegedly made a similar reference on the Instagram page of a newly opened mosque in Sydney, threatening to “christ church 2.0 this joint”. What all these violent online threats have in common is a virulent hatred of Islam and its adherents, as expressed in their criminal rhetoric and intention. The three anti-Muslim messages celebrate the ideology of the Christchurch murderer and advocate the repetition of his hate crime and the replication of innocent deaths. They wrongly homogenise all Muslims as terrorists and view all mosques as harbours for terrorism. The aggression promised in each threat has the intended effect of terrorising and instilling fear among Muslim Australians and immigrants from Muslim backgrounds. The three threats are driven by the misleading goal of fighting the impending Islamic “takeover” of Australia. Their hate speech justifies hate crimes against Muslims. The Islamophobic violence advocated in these online threats further typifies Muslims as “evil terrorists” who deserve punishment. Their anti-Muslim rhetoric reinforces the anti-Muslim imagery disseminated in the media and perpetuates the caricatures proffered by right-wing politicians like Pauline Hanson. The call for victimisation alienates the Muslim community in Australia, and this alienation has serious implications. In fact, the mistrust of Islam and its followers that has been widespread since 11 September 2001 has generated grave feelings of exclusion. read the complete article
Canada
In conversation with Amira Elghawaby on the rise of Islamophobia in Canada and fighting hate
Islamophobia and hate is on the rise in Canada. Political rhetoric is growing more divisive. Statistics show a surge in reported hate crimes against visible minorities. And in the middle of it all is Amira Elghawaby, Canada’s Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia. Since taking on the role, she has faced relentless pushback and personal attacks. In early March, her office has released a new guide on tackling Islamophobia at a time when tensions appear to escalating in the country. With growing concerns that rising hate and anti-Muslim sentiment from a U.S. under Trump, could spill over here, Elghawaby’s job is cut out for her. In a candid conversation with This Matters, she unpacks all of this, the need for her newly released guide and the future of her role and work in an increasingly polarized political climate. read the complete article
Suspect assaulted woman, attempted to set her hijab on fire at Ajax library: police
Kaley-Ann Freier, a 25-year-old woman from Ajax, Ont. is facing several charges after allegedly assaulting and attempting to light a woman’s hijab on fire inside a library. The incident, which Durham Regional Police Service (DRPS) are describing as an “unprovoked attack,” happened on Saturday at Ajax Public Library’s Main Branch at 55 Harwood Ave., just south of Highway 401. Police said they were called to that area at around noon for reports of an assault. In a news release, officers said they spoke with a victim who said she was in the library studying when she was approached by an unknown female, who yelled profanities at her and threw objects at her head. Investigators said the suspect tried to remove the victim’s hijab, while pouring an unknown liquid on it. They suspect then allegedly attempted to light to garment on fire. Police said the victim screamed for help and security intervened. “The suspect fled the library but was located by officers a few hours later and taken into custody without incident,” DTPS said in a release. read the complete article
United Kingdom
As a Muslim, the UK government’s definition of Islamophobia won’t protect us
At the end of February, the Labour government announced that it was launching a group to come up with “a working definition of Anti-Muslim Hatred/Islamophobia”. Some Muslims have welcomed the news; however, as a Muslim who has been researching Islamophobia from a decolonial lens for over a decade, I feel differently about it. The move appears to be in response to the latest figures on anti-Muslim hate crimes, which were reportedly at the highest recorded level in 2024. According to Tell Mama, one of the reasons for this spike was Muslims advocating for Palestine post-October 7. It is, of course, entirely on brand for PM Keir Starmer’s government to call attention to hate crimes against Muslims advocating for Palestine with one side of its mouth while endorsing heavy-handed policing and criminalisation of pro-Palestine protesters with the other. Meanwhile, the response in the right-wing British press has featured the sort of gaslighting to which Muslims in the UK have now become accustomed. We are told that Islam is so awful that the need to criticise it must be protected as a legal right, and therefore we don’t deserve a definition of Islamophobia. Or we are told that Muslims already have enough legal protection, and a legal definition of Islamophobia would be “special treatment” or tantamount to censorship. It is essential to consider all of the above in the context that the people making these arguments are often the same people who are arguing in favour of an established definition of antisemitism. It would seem, therefore, that defining antisemitism is both simple and necessary. Defining Islamophobia, meanwhile, is a minefield. This is a deliberately constructed narrative of desirable versus undesirable victims. The irony here is that the undesirability of Muslims as victims of hate is, in itself, a symptom of Islamophobia. In other words, the biggest challenge to an officially sanctioned definition of Islamophobia is not, as the dominant narrative among British politicians and media might suggest, freedom of speech or censorship or perceived special treatment. The biggest challenge to defining Islamophobia, is Islamophobia. read the complete article
Netherlands
Thousands rally in Amsterdam in protest of racism and far-right policies
Thousands took to the streets of Amsterdam to demonstrate against racism and fascism on Saturday. The protest was peaceful and police did not arrest anyone, according to an official spokesperson. Groups involved in organising the event included Amnesty International, Kick Out Zwarte Piet, the Dutch Palestine Committee and Another Jewish Voice. Protesters held signs reading “Never Again” and “Fact or Faber.” They waved flags for Palestine, Turkey, Ukraine and Black Lives Matter. Local media report that speeches at the march increasingly focused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Other themes included climate change, exploitation of migrant workers, Islamophobia and discrimination facing member of the LGBTQ+ community. read the complete article