Today in Islamophobia

Today in Islamophobia: In the United Kingdom, Alina Burns, the young neo-nazi who attacked Mohammed Mahmoodi with an axe last year, has been sentenced to more than 15 years in prison, meanwhile in Myanmar, according to a report by the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK), Rohingya women and girls are facing widespread rape and torture amid displacements and overall worsening humanitarian conditions in the northern parts of Rakhine State, and lastly in India, the Madhya Pradesh High Court has ruled on Friday that a temple to a Hindu goddess predates the Kamal Maula mosque in the Madhya Pradesh state town of Dhar, a ruling which could pave the way for the mosque’s demolition. Our recommended read of the day is by Louay Faour for The New Arab on the far-right rally which occurred over the weekend in London, drawing tens of thousands to “Unite the Kingdom”, led by anti-Muslim activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (AKA ‘Tommy Robinson’). This and more below:

United Kingdom

Nationalists at London far-right hate march take aim at Muslims | Recommended Read

Racism and Islamophobia were on full display at London’s far-right rally on Saturday, where participants mocked Muslims and called on migrants to leave the country. Tens of thousands crowded the streets of the British capital for the so-called "Unite the Kingdom" hate march, led by far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, better known as Tommy Robinson, and bringing together various far-right groups. The demonstration coincided with a much larger march in central London marking 78 years since the Nakba, when the state of Israel was created following the forced displacement and killing of 750,000 Palestinians. Many participants in the far-right rally were seen carrying Israeli flags. In comments made to a participant at the rally, Robinson said he would "stop Islam" if he ever became prime minister. "I would stop Islam, I’d end foreign funding for this country, all the migrants would be taken out of the hotels and sent back tomorrow by the military," he said. "I would have remigration. It’s time for many Muslims to leave this country if they’re not willing to integrate or assimilate. It’s time to go home," he added. The UK has seen a rise in Islamophobic hate crimes in recent years, particularly since the start of the war on Gaza, with incidents often underreported. read the complete article

‘Half of British Muslims are under 25’: Report shows shifting demographics

A new report by the Muslim Council of Britain released this week found Muslims make up 6.5 percent of the population of England and Wales, with a median age of just 27 – 13 years younger than the national average. Nearly half are under 25, meaning British Muslims are one of the youngest and fastest-growing groups in the country. Researchers say that shift could become politically significant if the voting age is lowered to 16, potentially adding about 150,000 more Muslim voters to the electorate. “This is a young, British-born, highly educated generation, and politicians who still think of Muslims as outsiders are reading from a script that is 20 years out of date,” said Miqdad Asaria, associate professor in health policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science. “Lowering the voting age to 16 would amplify a generation that is already shaping British public life. Half of British Muslims are under 25. They are not waiting for permission to participate.” British Muslims, he noted, are ethnically, politically and culturally diverse, spanning Pakistani communities in Bradford, Somali communities in Cardiff, Bangladeshi families in Tower Hamlets, white British converts and Arab professionals in London – and many more communities elsewhere in the country. “There is no Muslim voting bloc. There never was,” he added. “What you have is nearly four million people with the full range of political views you would expect in any population that size.” read the complete article

Neo-Nazi obsessed teen jailed for trying to kill Kurdish man in Bristol with axe

A neo-Nazi obsessed teenager who tried to behead a Kurdish barber with an axe because she wanted to “kill all Jews and Muslims” has been jailed for more than 15 years. Alina Burns, 19, attacked Mohammed Mahmoodi, 27, with the weapon as he stood outside his shop in Bedminster in south Bristol in August last year. Bristol crown court heard she had been motivated by neo-Nazi extremism and had been in contact with far-right groups. Burns had told a man on a dating app to “kill all Jews and Muslims” and had searched for information online about jihad, the 2024 Southport stabbings, “Jewish supremacy” and Nazi Germany. Serena Gates KC, prosecuting, told the court: “The prosecution case is that the defendant had an extreme rightwing mindset and wanted Jews and Muslims to be killed and non-whites to flee or be expelled from the UK. read the complete article

Britain’s hard right on the march as tens of thousands descend on London

When some 150,000 people descended on London in September for a rally organized by Tommy Robinson – an agitator who spreads anti-Muslim bigotry and has several criminal convictions – it felt like a watershed moment in British politics. “Something in our country changed,” Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, said at the time. “This felt different.” And so when at least tens of thousands gathered again in the British capital on Saturday for the latest “Unite the Kingdom” march, it felt less out of the ordinary. Views that would once not have been expressed in public are becoming commonplace. Marches organized by Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, are becoming a regular outlet for them. “Millions have got to go,” said Pete, 64, from Derbyshire, in the English midlands. He was referring to unauthorized immigrants. “They shouldn’t be in this country,” he told CNN. “They’re claiming benefits. ‘Benefit Britain’ has got to end.” Saturday’s march was smaller, according to early estimates, and did not attract the same high-profile foreign guests. But Robinson’s message was similarly combative. “Are you ready for the Battle of Britain?” he asked his supporters, packed into Parliament Square. Ahead of the next general election, he said his supporters must “get involved” and “become activists,” or “we are going to lose our country forever.” read the complete article

Tommy Robinson tells tens of thousands at London rally to prepare for ‘battle of Britain’

The far-right activist Tommy Robinson told tens of thousands of supporters to prepare for the “battle of Britain” during a rally in London on Saturday. Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, drew tens of thousands of supporters on to the streets of central London for the second year running in an event where Islamophobic and ethnonationalist hate speech and flyers were distributed to the crowds. Organisers claimed that millions had attended his “unite the kingdom” march, but police estimated the number of demonstrators to be far lower, at about 60,000. Last September’s march was attended by 150,000 people. Robinson, who gained prominence as the founder of the anti-Islam English Defence League, told crowds gathered in Parliament Square that the rally was “a turning point for Britain”. He encouraged his supporters to move beyond street protest and “fighting” and become involved in local politics before the next general election. The campaign group Hope Not Hate said that although the march appeared to have attracted fewer demonstrators than the previous rally, the scale of Robinson’s movement remained “deeply worrying”. read the complete article

At least 250,000 join Nakba Day march against war on Gaza, far-right

Hundreds of thousands of pro-Palestine demonstrators marched through central London on Saturday for the annual Nakba Day protest, in what organisers described as a mass mobilisation against Israel’s war on Gaza and the far right. Organisers estimated turnout at around 250,000 people, significantly larger than the separate anti-Islam, anti-migrant "Unite the Kingdom" rally led by far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, better known as Tommy Robinson, elsewhere in the capital. More than 4,000 Metropolitan Police officers, alongside mounted units, drones, helicopters, and live facial recognition technology, were deployed across London amid fears of clashes between the rival demonstrations. The Nakba march commemorates the mass killing, displacement, and expulsion of Palestinians during the creation of Israel in 1948, while also protesting Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza. This year’s demonstration was explicitly framed by organisers and speakers as both a show of solidarity with Palestinians and a counter-mobilisation against Robinson and the far right. read the complete article

India

‘Hindu order runs India’: Court declares another medieval mosque a temple

For decades, the Kamal Maula mosque in Dhar, in central India’s Madhya Pradesh state, has been like a second home for 78-year-old Mohammad Rafiq. Rafiq has been the muezzin, who calls Muslims to prayer, at the mosque for 50 years. Before him, his grandfather Hafiz Naziruddin used to lead the prayers even before India gained independence from British colonial rule in 1947. But the mosque in the Bhojshala complex, a protected monument of archaeological importance, is out of bounds now for Rafiq and other Muslims in Dhar. The Madhya Pradesh High Court, hearing a petition claiming a temple predated the mosque at the site, ruled on Friday that the medieval complex is a temple dedicated to a Hindu goddess. On Sunday, the 13th-14th century monument was awash in saffron flags — associated with “Hindutva”, the far-right Hindu supremacist movement — as young men danced to religious tunes, filming the rituals on their phones. Local activists installed a temporary idol of the goddess as Hindu worshippers gathered in large numbers amid heavy police deployment. The Kamal Maula mosque in the nondescript town of Dhar is not alone. Far-right Hindutva activists have made similar claims — that a given mosque was built atop a temple — across India, emboldened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rise to power in 2014. read the complete article

Myanmar

Rohingya women face rising levels of sexual violence under Myanmar’s Arakan Army

Sexual violence against Rohingya women and girls is becoming rampant along with illegal detention and coercion under the armed rebel group Arakan Army in the northern parts of Myanmar’s Rakhine State. According to a report by the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) released on Thursday, Rohingya women and girls are facing widespread rape and torture amid displacements and overall worsening humanitarian conditions. A Muslim ethnic minority group that has lived for centuries in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar, the Rohingya have suffered decades of violence. In particular, they have faced systematic persecution since 1978, when the military regime of General Ne Win launched Operation Dragon King, which drove about 200,000 Rohingya into Bangladesh. Many of them later returned, only to face renewed cycles of discrimination, denial of citizenship under the 1982 Citizenship Law that turned members of the community into “resident foreigners”. A massive wave of violence in August 2017 in the country’s Rakhine State, a coastal province in Western Myanmar, forced more than 750,000 people to seek refuge in Bangladesh as entire villages were burned to the ground, killing thousands of families. read the complete article

Israel

Arab Israelis Are Being Deprived of Their Collective Palestinian Identity

Arrests over social media posts, the hounding of university students and protesters, attempts to silence Palestinian political voices, bans on demonstrations and memorial events, and police violence don't shock or trigger opposition among most Israelis. The silence, the apathy and sometimes the cooperation of many politicians and regular Israelis laid the ground for a Knesset debate on breaking up the leadership of one-fifth of Israel's citizens. This isn't just another step against the Palestinians in Israel. It's part of an expanding and intensifying trend constraining their political and civic space. It encompasses a range of events that reflect the depth of the erosion of democratic values. It's also evidence of the growing legitimization of violations of Arab citizens' fundamental rights, with their citizenship emptied of content. To understand the severity of the situation, you have to understand what exactly would be banned. A clear political outlook underpins the security-related rhetoric and allegations of "support for terror": Arabs may be allowed to work or study or thrive as individuals, but organizing around a common identity, an independent leadership and a collective political consciousness challenges the constellation of power, undermining the vision of Jewish supremacy that guides many Israeli politicians. It's a reminder of a simple fact that many prefer to suppress: A Palestinian community in Israel has rights, memory and a future and won't accept the erasure of its national identity and the infringement of its political rights. read the complete article

International

Israeli ultranationalists chant racist slogans during Jerusalem Day march

Israeli ultranationalists marching through Jerusalem’s Old City chanted “Death to Arabs” and “May your villages burn” during the annual Jerusalem Day parade, as many Palestinian residents stayed indoors and shuttered their shops. Tens of thousands of Israelis – many of them teenagers and young adults – take part each year in the march, which Israeli authorities say celebrates the “reunification” of Jerusalem after Israel captured East Jerusalem during the 1967 war. The annexation of East Jerusalem, home to a predominantly Palestinian population, was illegal under international law, according to the United Nations. Over the years, the march has frequently descended into violence, with groups of mainly young ultranationalists targeting Palestinians with racist chants, intimidation and physical assaults. This year’s event took place against the backdrop of Israel’s war with Iran and a so-called “ceasefire” in Gaza, marked by near-daily violations by Israeli forces. read the complete article

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