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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In the United States, the No BAN Act, introduced to Congress last month by Rep. Judy Chu and Senator Chris Coons, could stand as a challenge if passed against a potential Trump Muslim Ban 2.0, while the U.S. military is having trouble carrying out President Donald Trump’s order to hold 30,000 migrants in Guantánamo Bay, according to Defense Department Officials, and in Australia, the University of Sydney has apologized after initially telling a transgender international student she could face suspension after she allegedly wrote messages accusing the university of complicity in genocide in Gaza on campus whiteboards. Our recommended read of the day is by Jessica Buxbaum for The New Arab, who notes that the Israeli government engages with far-right parties in Europe because they both embrace Islamophobia. This and more below:
International
Why Israel is embracing Europe's far-right parties | Recommended Read
In February, Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Gideon Sa’ar quietly told diplomats to begin talks with right-wing extremist parties in France, Spain, and Sweden, which, until now, have been boycotted by Israel. Discussions began with France’s National Rally, the Spanish Vox party and the Sweden Democrats - all who have voiced their support of Israel since Hamas’ 7 October 2023 attack and the ensuing war on Gaza. Outreach to Europe’s far-right began under Israel Katz’s term as foreign affairs minister. These political parties are notorious for their fascist roots and anti-Semitic affiliations. For instance, National Rally’s ex-leader, the late Jean-Marie Le Pen, was repeatedly fined for his comments minimising the Holocaust - most recently in 2018 when he was ordered to pay $30,000 for calling the genocide a “detail” from World War II. “By diversifying its alliances, Israel has gained leverage within Western societies, pressuring governments through far-right movements that echo its rhetoric of a civilisational war against Islam,” Dr Ramzy Baroud, an American-Palestinian journalist, told The New Arab. “The real danger then is the fact that these groups are now using Israel to advance their political position, without changing their ideological underpinnings.” Describing it as a symbiotic relationship, Osama Al Sharif, a veteran journalist and political commentator, told TNA that both share an anti-immigrant, Islamophobic ideology. “They're supporting Israel because they want the Jews to stay outside the European continent, which is an ancient agenda for all the far-right, anti-Semitic movements that had evolved in Europe since the 1600s,” Al Sharif said. read the complete article
I Worked on the “Arab Sesame Street.” It Was Not a Waste of Money.
With funding from the Ford Foundation and other philanthropy, we agreed on training Palestinians and producing a separate Palestinian show (Shara’a Simsim) while also producing some crossover segments. Before we began, a radical right-wing Israeli assassinated Yitzhak Rabin, with the brave Israeli leader’s blood spilling during a song that was part of a rally for peace in Tel Aviv. For me, the concept of mutual respect was translated into children’s episodes by concentrating first on internal mutual respect, between male and female, between abled and disabled, between urban and rural people, as well as between people of different faiths and nationalities. The project was not without challenges. At the time we had no studio big enough for such a huge production, so we used the studios of Israeli Educational Television. Of course, we had lots of trouble getting our set from Ramallah to Tel Aviv and allowing our actors, including our star puppeteer, to pass the local security guards at the Israeli public service studio. It was also challenging to get the New York team to approve of some of our episodes that included pride in our culture, for fear it would anger and touch some nerves, including those of the funders. But we fought our way through all that, and on my 40th birthday, we broadcast the first season of Shara’a Simsim from the tiny studios of Al Quds Educational Television in Ramallah. The first season was produced working with Palestinian teachers and child psychologists, as well as artists and puppets, to craft 26 episodes around themes of tolerance, sharing, and friendship. The Shara’a Simsim cancellation raised the question of whether a U.S. bias toward Israel is reflected not only in the political arena but in the humanitarian realm as well. Congress froze the funds for Palestinians, but the State Department is still investing $750,000 in the Israeli version of Sesame Street. When Donald Trump denounced spending American dollars on “the Arab Sesame Street” in his address to Congress Tuesday night, he cited a figure of $20 million. I am not sure where that $20 million figure came from, but for an American export that encouraged peace and goodwill, the amount is nothing compared with what is spent on war, death, and suffering. read the complete article
United States
Trump's plan to house migrants at Guantánamo Bay facing major hurdles
The U.S. military is having trouble carrying out President Donald Trump's order to hold 30,000 migrants in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, U.S. defense officials tell Fox News. None of the 195 tents set up at the U.S. Naval Station in Guantánamo Bay have been used to house migrants, because they do not meet ICE standards, two U.S. defense officials said. During his second week in office, Trump ordered the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to prepare a migrant detention facility to house 30,000 migrants at Guantánamo Bay. "We have 30,000 beds in Guantánamo to detain the worst criminal aliens threatening the American people," Trump said. Since that announcement, 256 total illegal migrants have passed through the base, according to U.S. Southern Command. Many of these migrants were labeled as the "worst of the worst" and a threat to the U.S. population, according to the Trump administration. Most of those migrants have been sent back to their home countries. read the complete article
Connecting the Dots in Coverage of Trump and Islamophobia
In 1981—in the wake of the Iran hostage crisis, an attack on the United States embassy in Tehran, which Time magazine described as a disaster of “mutual incomprehension”—Edward Said published Covering Islam, an examination of how Western media represents, and mishandles, Muslim life and imagery. “News,” he wrote, “is less an inert given than the result of a complex process of usually deliberate selection and expression.” Decades later, as Donald Trump returned to White House, and began to “flood the zone,” Muslim Americans could feel the significance of Said’s observation in the course of daily news consumption—through the selection of stories and framing, and their impact. Over the course of his time in politics—and well before that, as a real estate developer—Trump has shown a knack for directing the attention of the press, in part by giving a name to something that imbues it with a sense of novelty, or shock. Lately, he has done so by unleashing a spate of executive orders targeting immigrants, including one “against invasion” and another “protecting the United States from foreign terrorists and other national security and public safety threats.” The press has responded to the deluge of announcements in kind, raising alarm that grants credence to Trump’s premise, as in the Washington Post’s “Inside Trump’s immigration crackdown,” CNN’s “7 big questions about Trump’s immigration crackdown,” and ABC’s “Trump’s immigration crackdown ripples across the US.” These stories have proliferated even though the Trump administration has been, on average, deporting people at a slower rate than Joe Biden did during the last year of his presidency. To cover the news this way allows Trump ownership of the story, rather than connecting the latest developments to precedent. The best example of Trump’s ability to infuse familiar policy with news interest may have come during his first term, with the so-called Muslim ban circa January 2017. Rowaida Abdelaziz, an investigative journalist who covers Muslim communities, reported extensively on the impact of the policy—which she viewed not as a breaking story, but as part of a long history of the government trying to stop people from entering the United States from Muslim-majority countries. Those efforts crescendoed after 9/11, with a series of laws and programs—concerning everything from excessive travel screenings to surveillance—that discriminated against Muslims in the name of national security. Members of both parties were involved: George W. Bush deported thousands of Muslim men, without evidence of terrorist activities; the program continued under most of Barack Obama’s term. “It shape-shifts, presenting itself in the form of surveillance or travel bans,” Abdelaziz said, of anti-Muslim policy. “When having these conversations, it’s so important to remember the historical context when we’re discussing present-day impact.” read the complete article
A new Muslim and African ban by Trump can and must be prevented
More than a month into US President Donald Trump’s second term, his brutal crackdown on immigration and asylum seekers has already harmed countless people. One piece of legislation could make a difference in this struggle: the National Origin-Based Antidiscrimination for Nonimmigrants (NO BAN) Act, introduced to the US Congress on February 6 by Representative Judy Chu and Senator Chris Coons. The bill would create much-needed limitations and accountability for any president intent on categorically banning refugees, asylum seekers, or people of specified faiths or nationalities from entering the US. Why is this needed today? Because there is growing fear that Trump is setting the stage for a resurrection of the notorious Muslim and African bans of his first term. Over 40,000 people were denied visas due to the Muslim and African bans, which caused a 94 percent drop in Muslim refugee admissions between January and November 2017. The traumatic impacts of the Muslim and African bans, currently rescinded, still linger years later: families separated, people deprived of critical medical treatment, travel and visa fee expenses lost, anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim hate. read the complete article
Beyond DEI: Recognizing And Supporting Muslim Professionals At Work
In recent years, there has been a troubling rise in anti-Muslim sentiment and violence both in the United States and globally. Muslim communities have been targeted in hate crimes, workplace discrimination, and systemic exclusion, creating an environment of fear and marginalization. The ongoing conflicts in various parts of the world have further exacerbated Islamophobic rhetoric, leading to increased bias and hostility against Muslim individuals in professional settings. As workplaces strive to foster inclusivity, it is imperative that companies recognize these challenges and take proactive measures to ensure Muslim employees feel safe, valued, and supported. Even at the peak of organizations embracing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, religious identity—particularly the experiences of Muslim professionals—remained an overlooked aspect. Recent research and lived experiences highlight the challenges Muslim employees face, from workplace discrimination to the pressure to conform. Understanding these issues and implementing inclusive policies can lead to a more equitable work environment for all employees. Dr. Nadia Butt’s research, chaired by Dr. Shaista Khilji at George Washington University, in the area of experiences of Muslim professionals highlights the ways in which workers navigate multiple layers of identity shaped by religion, race, gender, and nationality, all of which influence their workplace experiences. read the complete article
A Muslim Athlete Needed Modest Sportswear. Now She Sells It to Others.
As Ms. Browne, who ultimately converted to Islam, peeled back pages of the Quran, she found that many of the messages resonated with her, particularly in relation to her basketball ambitions. “As somebody that already had a very disciplined lifestyle, Islam just made sense,” she said. But as Ms. Browne dived deeper into the religion, she was presented with a conflict: Women’s basketball uniforms, with their shorts and tank tops, did not conform with stricter Islamic standards of modesty. But revealing less of her body by wearing a hijab — a head scarf — along with baggy pants and loosefitting long-sleeve shirts presented its own conundrum on the basketball court. “You kind of feel like you’re wearing a garbage bag,” she said. She wondered why there were not more clothing options for Muslim women who had a passion for sports — something less cumbersome than XXL men’s athletic wear and more affordable than $100 name-brand garments. Eventually, Ms. Browne arrived at a solution: starting a business that sells affordable modest athletic wear, which she obtains from a small family business in Pakistan. Not so long ago, Ms. Browne would have been prohibited from such a venture, but the N.C.A.A., the governing body for college athletics, was forced in 2021 by the passage of state laws to allow athletes to profit from the use of their name, image and likeness. And before last season, the N.C.A.A. followed other athletics governing bodies in easing restrictions that required athletes to file for a waiver to wear religious headwear provided it was safe for competition. “Honestly, it’s not about how many sales I make, it’s really about all the messages I get on social media and people thanking me,” Ms. Browne said. “It’s removing a barrier for women who want to work out but can’t find what they need to wear because they overheat or feel uncomfortable or it’s just too complicated.” read the complete article
Australia
Two words from a teenager finally exposed the daily reality for Australian Muslims
Why this one? Was it the language? Does reading that someone told a western Sydney mosque he wanted to “christ church 2.0 this joint [sic]” focus the mind in some unique way? Is it the fact, referenced by NSW Premier Chris Minns, that the threat was made in Ramadan, when mosques are full, that captured the imagination? Whatever it was, here we are: a 16-year-old West Australian kid arrested, government and police declaring they are “taking this very seriously”, the prime minister issuing a statement, Peter Dutton posting on X, and Strike Force Pearl – which hitherto seemed only to focus on antisemitic hate crimes – ramped up patrols in response. Welcome, sure. But I’ll admit to being caught by surprise because amid the torrent of attacks on Muslims in the past 18 months, this didn’t even strike me as especially stark. Online threats happen all the time. I’d guess every day. Even as I write this, a new story is developing about an online bomb threat against a school in a Muslim area of Sydney. They aren’t nice to receive – I know because I’ve received some quite graphic ones that have occasioned 24-hour security – but they are so often the empty bravado of someone very young, very lonely, very disturbed, or all three. None of that is to say this stuff shouldn’t be taken seriously. It’s more to wonder why so little has been done before. There have been plenty of opportunities. Arson? There’s the person who yelled “f--- Muslims” and “torch them all” before proceeding to torch a Palestinian man’s truck, which bore a Palestinian flag. Graffiti? Take the toilet stall at a children’s playground on which was scrawled “HANG ALL MUSLIM SCUM!” and “KILL A MUSLIM” followed by a checklist: “PEDOS✓ UGLY✓ STUPID✓ LAZY✓ FILTH✓”. Assault? Two hijab-wearing women were hospitalised after allegedly being variously punched and choked while minding their own business about three weeks ago. Assault with cars? A man yelled “f--- off you terrorist dogs” to a group of Muslim men praying outdoors, then drove his car back at speed and tried to run them over. A woman allegedly tried to run over an imam. read the complete article
Sydney University apologises after threatening international student with possible suspension over Palestine protest
The University of Sydney has apologised after initially telling a transgender international student she could face suspension after she allegedly wrote messages accusing the university of complicity in genocide in Gaza on campus whiteboards. The university has since said the threat of suspension, contained in a misconduct notice, was the result of an “administrative error”, though the misconduct proceedings are ongoing. The Malaysian student, who did not want to use their name for fear of being reprimanded, is seeking asylum while on a student (subclass 500) visa and said the initial misconduct notice made them fear they would face deportation. On 3 February, the University’s Office of the Academic Registrar wrote to the student alleging they had entered multiple tutorial rooms and written messages of protest with a green marker on whiteboards. The statements included “from the river to the sea Palestine will be free”, accusations the university invested in weapons manufacturing and “supported genocide in Gaza”, as well as statistics of the death toll in Gaza. read the complete article