Today in Islamophobia

Today in Islamophobia: In the United Kingdom, CCTV footage shows masked men throwing lit bottles of accelerant at a small prayer room in Café Raha in Blackburn on Monday with authorities investigating the arson attack, elsewhere in the country, London Mayor Sadiq Khan marks his ten years in office and talks to NPR about Prime Minister Starmer’s future, far-right disinformation about his city, and how he’s survived President Trump’s insults, and lastly, US-based expert tracking Hindu hate crimes targeting Muslims, Christians, and marginalized castes has testified before a US government commission calling for sanctions against leaders of the ruling party (BJP). Our recommended read of the day is by Eviane Leidig for the Center for the Study of Organized Hate on the upcoming ‘United the Kingdom’ Rally in London and the transatlantic connections between far-right groups seeking to foment fear and hatred of marginalized groups in the West. This and more below:

United Kingdom

London’s ‘Unite the Kingdom’ Rally and the Transatlantic Far-Right Playbook | Recommended Read

On May 16th, the “Unite the Kingdom, Unite the West” rally will take place in London, promising a larger turnout than the previous Unite the Kingdom gathering, which drew more than 100,000 attendees in September 2025. The rally is hosted by far-right extremist Tommy Robinson, co-founder and former leader of the English Defence League (EDL) and a central figure in the transnational anti-Muslim “counter-jihad” movement. Earlier this year, Robinson spearheaded a tour in the U.S., meeting with prominent conservative influencers and lawmakers, speaking at the University of Florida about what he called the “Islamic invasion”, appearing on popular right-wing podcasts to spread conspiracy theories, and even visiting the U.S. Department of State, per invitation, in what he described as an effort of “making alliances and friendships”. One of the key stated objectives of Robinson’s visit to the U.S. was to “generate excitement” for the upcoming rally. The rally represents the epitome of transnational far-right mobilization and activism. 8) Paladino Settles With Council Over Anti-Muslim Tweets (United States) Councilmember Vickie Paladino and the City Council settled their ethics feud over her anti-Muslim social media posts, with the Queens Republican agreeing to delete her tweets and remove any mention of her job on her personal accounts. The charges filed March 2 by the Council’s ethics committee were permanently withdrawn, according to a court filing. In turn, Paladino withdrew a lawsuit she filed against the Council. In one now-deleted tweet, she posted that “we need to take very seriously the need to begin the expulsion of Muslims from western nations, or at the very least the severe sanction of them within western borders.” read the complete article

Fact Check: British Muslims with home prayer space are not exempt from paying council tax

There is no exemption from paying council tax in Britain if a home’s living room is used for prayer, contradicting widely viewed online posts claiming Muslims receive this entitlement. “Muslims who use their living rooms as places to pray are EXEMPT FROM COUNCIL TAX. Another Muslim wheeze. How many houses does this cover?” said April 24 posts on X, and Facebook. However, the British ‌government says this is false. “This council tax exemption simply does not exist,” a spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said in an email, referring to the situation in England. “There is no council tax discount or exemption where part of a dwelling is used as a prayer room for any religious denomination.” read the complete article

Masked men firebomb a Muslim prayer room in Blackburn cafe

The owner of a popular cafe has insisted ‘we have done nothing wrong’ after his Muslim prayer room was firebombed by masked men. CCTV footage shows men throwing lit bottles of accelerant at a small prayer room in Café Raha at 2.30am on Monday. The prayer room appears to have been specifically targeted with the prayer mats destroyed as flames took hold. Owner Mohammed Awais told the Lancashire Telegraph: ‘We put our hearts and souls into this place. read the complete article

Sadiq Khan Interview: ‘I Know I’m Clickbait, I Know I’m Being Monetised’

“I say this in a respectful way, the British Muslims I speak to don’t seek to dominate,” Khan says. “They seek to do good. We don’t seek to take over. We try to give back. “And I’m worried about this mainstreaming of things that were on the periphery, not from the BNP or the English Defence League or from Stephen Yaxley Lennon, but from Her Majesty’s official opposition’s Shadow Lord Chancellor, backed up the next day by the Leader of the Opposition…”“And It troubles me. It upsets me. It makes me angry”. This mainstreaming of anti-Muslim politics has had a direct impact on his own safety. Unlike Khan’s predecessor Boris Johnson, who felt safe enough to cycle freely around the city as mayor, the constant racist threats against Khan and his family have forced them to surround themselves with a 24 hour security team. “I’m not asking for sympathy,” Khan says. “But it can’t be right, it can’t be fair that I require police protection. This can’t be right. I mean, I’m somebody who enjoys riding around, using the Tube, using buses, going for walks, going to the cinema, going to restaurants, seeing mates. It surely isn’t fair that I need police protection to do those things.” Khan fears the treatment he has received as the UK’s most prominent Muslim politician will have a knock on effect on those considering following in his footsteps. read the complete article

London Mayor Sadiq Khan reflects on his achievements after 10 years in office

Celebrating 10 years in office, London Mayor Sadiq Khan talks to NPR about Prime Minister Starmer's future, far-right disinformation about his city, and how he's survived President Trump's insults. FRAYER: Trump called Khan, the son of Pakistani immigrants, disgusting and falsely accused him of imposing Islamic law here. KHAN: He's clearly somebody who believes there is a clash of civilizations between somebody who's a follower of Islam and a Muslim like I am and being a Westerner. Here in London, we're diverse, we're progressive, and we are incredibly successful. And if you're Trump or one of his supporters, we're the antithesis of all he believes in, and that's one of the reasons there'll be a target on our back. FRAYER: A target for disinformation, he says. He blames social media, state actors and MAGA supporters for painting London as dangerous when actually, per capita... KHAN: London is safer, objectively speaking, than any city or state in the USA. Homicide levels are the lowest since records began. Knife crime is down. Gun crime is down. read the complete article

Islamophobia, racist threats, Holocaust denial: Comments by newly-elected Reform councillors

The local elections held across England, Scotland and Wales on 7 May symbolised a dramatic shift in the traditional two-party system of British politics, with Keir Starmer’s Labour suffering large losses and Nigel Farage's Reform UK winning over 1,300 council seats and 13 councils. With Reform under the spotlight, several alleged cases of racist comments made by newly elected councillors have come under scrutiny, with backlash circulating on social media. read the complete article

International

Religion steers Bengal politics in Bangladesh, India — again

Religious and ethnic divisions are growing deeper in Bengal, a region divided between India and Bangladesh.Politicians on both sides of the border are seeking to capitalize on religious sentiment. In Bangladesh, the February parliamentary elections marked a major moment for Islamist politics, with Jamaat-e-Islami winning nearly one third of the votes nationwide — its strongest showing yet. In India's West Bengal, the Hindu nationalist BJP surged from about 10% vote share in 2016 to nearly 46% this year. Under the state's "first past the post" electoral system, this was enough for the BJP to secure 207 out of 294 seats in the state assembly last month. Bangladeshi anthropologist Rezwana Karim Snigdha warns of an "ill-motivated" shift in rhetorics in Bengal. The region once boasted a "shared identity" which "allowed people to be both Bengali and Hindu, or Bengali and Muslim," she told DW. "But on both sides of the border, political narratives are increasingly framing identity in religious terms, sidelining language, culture and heritage." read the complete article

Call for Magnitsky sanctions on BJP leaders over persecution of Muslims, Christians in India

A US-based expert tracking Hindu hate crimes targeting Muslims, Christians, and marginalised castes has testified before a US government commission, presenting a record of human rights abuses against minorities in India and called for targeted Global Magnitsky sanctions against leaders of the ruling party. In his testimony before the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) on the situation of Muslims and Christians in India, Raqib Hameed Naik highlighted senior political leaders' role in enabling hate and violence, private construction firms' complicity in demolishing minority properties, social media platforms' amplification of hate speech, and the growing transnational repression targeting critics abroad. The persecution "bears the sanction of the country's top political leadership led by Prime Minister Modi" and is carried out through the state apparatus and the militant networks of the Hindu nationalist movement (the Sangh Parivar / RSS ecosystem, including the Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad), Naik, who currently serves as the Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Organized Hate (CSOH), told USCRIF. read the complete article

New York Times article details brutal rape of Palestinians. Israel calls it 'blood libel'

Mounted by dogs, penetrated by carrots, and rectums torn by batons. These are just some of the harrowing testimonies of the rape of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers, detailed by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof in a landmark piece published on Monday. None of it is new. Middle East Eye revealed similar testimonies last month, from a report titled “Sexual violence and forcible transfer in the West Bank: How the exploitation of gender dynamics drives displacement,” by the West Bank Protection Consortium. The group documented at least 16 cases involving sexual crimes perpetrated by Israeli settlers and soldiers. And in March, Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, said in her report to the UN Human Rights Council that "the Israeli prison system has degenerated into a laboratory of calculated cruelty" with acts that include rape of Palestinians with bottles, metal rods and knives. But for a corporate media giant like the NYT, which has often overlooked and doubted Palestinian narratives, such storytelling is novel, and the Israeli government immediately slammed the decision to run it. read the complete article

France

Paris Modest Fashion Week is no antidote to Islamophobia

Paris hosted its first-ever Modest Fashion Week. And across the board, from the brands promoting their Muslim-friendly designs to the hijabi influencers flown out to promote, it seems to have been lauded as a success for inclusion and progression. However, there’s a sobering hypocrisy that bubbles just under the surface of this headline-grabbing affair. Namely, the fact that Paris, the host city, also happens to be the capital city of a country whose politics still actively discriminates against and criminalises overt expressions of Muslimness. That’s right: on the one hand, wielding this celebration of modest fashion, whilst on the other hand, subjecting women wearing varying degrees of (Muslim) modest dress to bans, fines and prosecution. To this day in France, niqabs remain illegal, and hijabs are banned in schools or for anyone delivering a public service, i.e. teachers and firefighters. French athletes are prohibited from wearing the hijab when representing the country during the Olympics, and public places like beaches and swimming pools routinely ban women in burkinis from entering. This hypocrisy is not mere oversight. It’s built into the very irony that underpins the modest fashion industry as a whole - that when there’s money to be made, suddenly diversity looks like an attractive proposal. read the complete article

United States

Paladino Settles With Council Over Anti-Muslim Tweets

Councilmember Vickie Paladino and the City Council settled their ethics feud over her anti-Muslim social media posts, with the Queens Republican agreeing to delete her tweets and remove any mention of her job on her personal accounts. The charges filed March 2 by the Council’s ethics committee were permanently withdrawn, according to a court filing. In turn, Paladino withdrew a lawsuit she filed against the Council. In one now-deleted tweet, she posted that “we need to take very seriously the need to begin the expulsion of Muslims from western nations, or at the very least the severe sanction of them within western borders.” read the complete article

Muslim Texans say Epic Eid cancellation signals growing Islamophobia

In Emad Salem’s Euless subdivision, he takes his Christian neighbors Arab desserts for Eid, and in return, they bring him treats around Christmastime. Last week, an event planned to celebrate the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha at Epic Waters water park in Grand Prairie was canceled after Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to revoke state funding from the city if it allowed the event to occur. A spokesperson for Abbott said that every Texan, regardless of their religious beliefs, is “entitled to equal treatment in public spaces.” Several Muslims in the community believe that may be the case for certain religions, but not for Islam. Salman Bhojani was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 2022, and became the first Muslim elected to the Texas legislature. Following the cancellation of the event, he and 41 other Texas legislators sent a letter to Abbott demanding he withdraw his threat. read the complete article

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