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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In France, a former Muslim place of worship has been ransacked, with copies of the Holy Quran desecrated, swastika symbols graffitied on the walls, and signs of an attempted arson, meanwhile in the United Kingdom, Baroness Warsi has drawn a stark comparison between rising Islamophobia in Britain and the treatment of Jewish communities in 1930s Europe, warning that “deeply dangerous” narratives are being fueled by those in power, and in the United States, Mahmoud Khalil’s legal team is demanding answers as to where exactly the Trump administration got the idea to target him in the first place, with suspicions rising that federal officials potentially coordinated with networks of anti-Palestinian groups. Our recommended read of the day is by Elshimaa Abdelhafiz for The Globe and Mail, who details her horrifying experience being targeted by an individual who assaulted her and tried to light her hijab on fire at a public library in Ontario, Canada. This and more below:
Canada
I was almost burned alive for wearing a hijab. This is what I told my kids | Recommended Read
One quiet afternoon two months ago, I went to the library, as I often do, carrying my books and my dreams of simply trying to build a better future for my three daughters. Almost everything I do is for them. When I walked in, however, I noticed a woman muttering angrily. I assumed she was struggling. I chose to avoid confrontation and sat quietly with my back to her. But without warning, she launched an unprovoked attack, yanking my hijab, pouring liquid on my head, and screaming, “I will set you on fire!” as she flicked a lighter again and again. I froze in horror, unable to move. In my mind, both then and since, I kept asking, Why? What did I do? My only “offence” was being a Muslim woman wearing a hijab. I never even saw her approach, and that has haunted me the most. As a visibly Muslim woman, I’ve always known there was a risk that I could be targeted. But I never imagined someone would try to burn me alive in broad daylight, in a public space, in front of strangers. I felt humiliated, vulnerable and shaken to my core. What’s more, I recently learned that my assailant had been charged last October for allegedly swinging a machete-style knife in a plaza in Ajax, Ont. Why was she allowed back on the streets? As a cancer survivor, a mother and a woman who wears her faith outwardly every day, I’ve faced many battles. But nothing breaks my heart more than thinking my daughters might grow up feeling unsafe or unwelcome because of who they are. And I think of how close I came to a different ending. If that lighter had worked, my daughters could have grown up looking at a scarred face, or worse, traumatized not only by what happened, but by the reminder of it every single day. That thought still haunts me. read the complete article
United States
NJ nurse alleges in lawsuit he was fired for pro-Palestinian speech
A North Jersey imam has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Hackensack Meridian Health alleging he was wrongfully terminated from his job as a nurse due to pro-Palestinian speech. Khalil Adem alleges that he faced discrimination, retaliation and defamation in violation of the Civil Rights Act and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination. The complaint was filed May 27 in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. Hackensack Meridian hired Adem in 2013 — the lawsuit does not say at which location — as a registered nurse and later promoted him to assistant nurse manager. In a decade of employment, he had no complaints and received positive performance reviews, the lawsuit says. That changed in August 2024 when Adem, a part-time imam at the Islamic Society of North Jersey in Flanders, delivered a sermon that sparked complaints from pro-Israel and anti-Muslim groups. In the sermon, Adem stated that “YouTube influencers are starting to expose Israel for what it is and asking why it is controlling America," according to clips shared online. The sermon was a reflection on the strife in Palestinian territories and religious teaching and that “bad acts always come to an end,” said his attorney Omar Mohammedi, speaking on the imam’s behalf. Adem was being punished for exercising his First Amendment rights outside the workplace, he said. Hackensack Meridian put Adem on administrative leave on Sept. 12, 2024, pending an investigation. He was fired six days later for allegedly violating the health care company’s policies on discrimination, harassment and social media conduct. read the complete article
EXCLUSIVE: Mahmoud Khalil Alleges the Trump Admin and Pro-Israel Groups Coordinated to Target Him
Mahmoud Khalil’s legal team is demanding answers as to where exactly the Trump administration got the idea to target him in the first place. The demands underscore the legal team's suspicion that federal officials coordinated with a network of outside anti-Palestinian groups to target Khalil and others over their pro-Palestinian speech. In a new Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request obtained by Zeteo, Khalil, a green card holder, and his legal team from the Center of Constitutional Rights seek information from several government agencies “that would document and expose the reported collaboration between federal officials and private, anti-Palestinian organizations who have identified, doxxed, and reported him and others for purposes of securing the deportation of student activists advocating on behalf of Palestinian human rights.” Khalil’s legal team says in the FOIA request that patterns of the administration's arrests “strongly suggest” it’s acting at the encouragement of organizations that appear to coordinate with each other to target those advocating for Palestinian rights, and that take credit whenever those people are apprehended. “The correlation is clear, and not a coincidence: to date, not a single reported revocation and detention of an individual based on pro-Palestine activism occurred absent prior doxxing by one of these groups,” the FOIA reads. read the complete article
France
Former Muslim worship site vandalized in France
A former Muslim place of worship in northeastern France has been ransacked, with copies of the Holy Quran desecrated, swastika symbols graffitied on the walls, and signs of an attempted arson, local media reported. The attack targeted a building in L’Hopital, near Saint-Avold in the Moselle region, previously managed by the Muslim association, Les Amis du peuple mediterraneen and Le Republicain Lorrain newspapers reported on Wednesday. Though no longer used as a mosque since 2021 due to safety regulation issues, the site remains under the association’s ownership. Prayer rugs were ripped apart, furniture overturned, and gas bottles, tires, and jerrycans filled with gasoline were found at the scene, suggesting an intent to set the building on fire, the association leaders said. The association’s representatives had not visited the building for three weeks prior to May 27, raising uncertainty about when exactly the vandalism occurred. Police forensic teams have carried out investigations, and a formal complaint has been filed. "This vile racist act strikes at the heart of our social cohesion," said Tristan Atmania, a municipal councilor, calling for the perpetrators to be brought to justice. Mayor Emmanuel Schuler condemned the attack as "unacceptable and intolerable." read the complete article
CAIR Condemns French Government’s “Bigoted, Fascist” Targeting of European Counter-Islamophobia Group
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned the French government’s targeting of a European Muslim organization dedicated to opposing anti-Muslim bigotry, the Collectif Contre l’Islamophobie en Europe (Collective Against Islamophobia in Europe, CCIE), as a baseless and fascist act of government-sanctioned Islamophobia. According to a statement issued by Belgium-based CCIE, “Yesterday, Tuesday, May 13, 2025, the CCIE was targeted by searches and custody measures involving, notably, its founding members.” CCIE added, “These searches are not based on any serious offense or imminent threat—they are clearly politically motivated. Their aim is to delegitimize grassroots efforts and support for victims, and to create a climate of fear around initiatives that call out anti-Muslim racism. This is an attempt to apply pressure, to discredit, to portray anti-racist activism as a threat. The police apparatus is being used to obstruct forms of expression that are nonetheless protected by the fundamental principles of law.” “Civil society organizations countering hate are something the French government should encourage, particularly in the wake of the horrific, Islamophobic murder of Aboubakar Cissé,” said CAIR Research and Advocacy Director Corey Saylor. “This raid raises many questions and raises the specter of Austria’s embarrassing Operation Luxor. The French government’s radical hostility to religious freedom, free speech and equal rights for French Muslims must end.” read the complete article
India
Manufacturing of an ‘antinational’ in India
Professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad, a professor of political science at Ashoka University, has become the latest hate figure manufactured by Hindu nationalists in India with backing from the police and judiciary. A crime that Mahmudabad has not committed is being attributed to him, and he is now being asked to prove his innocence – a classic case of “guilty until proven innocent”. The more he pleads his innocence, the deeper the suspicion grows against him as the Supreme Court of India has already cast doubt on his intent and made adverse observations about him before setting up a Special Investigative Team (SIT) to scrutinise two Facebook posts containing 1,530 words. Despite the clarity of his posts, Mahmudabad is expected to explain himself and dispel suspicions created by the highest court in the land. The media are busy demonising Mahmudabad. Soon, his actual words will vanish into the dense fog of propaganda, replaced by the image of a devious, cunning, scheming Muslim etched into the collective Hindu imagination. We see the same playbook unfolding – the one used to vilify scholars like Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, turning them into enemy figures within the BJP ecosystem with the help of the media, police and judiciary. One can only hope that the police officers remain steadfast, unaffected by judicial remarks or shrill propaganda and read Mahmudabad’s plain lines with constitutional eyes. His words – crafted by a Muslim mind – call for empathy, understanding, justice, equality and dignity. read the complete article
United Kingdom
Baroness Warsi compares British Islamophobia to antisemitism in 1930s Europe
Baroness Warsi has drawn a stark comparison between rising Islamophobia in Britain and the treatment of Jewish communities in 1930s Europe, warning that “deeply dangerous” narratives are being fuelled by those in power. Speaking at the Hay Festival in Hay-on-Wye, the former Conservative cabinet minister said she was “heartbroken” by the way Muslim communities are increasingly portrayed in public discourse. “It doesn't matter how many times you serve and how many times you do what you do for our country,” she said, in conversation with the British-Israeli journalist Rachel Shabi. “You still don't belong. You still don't matter. You still can't be trusted.” She described a recent conversation with her husband in which she questioned whether they should begin preparing “exit routes”. “I turned to him and I said, are we going to be like those Jewish families in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s, who were always sitting back, looking at the writing on the wall and thinking, ‘No, we're going to be all right. We’re very successful. We live in the right part of town. We’re part of the establishment…’ And then it will be too late. Should we be doing what everybody else around us seems to be doing right now, which is putting in place plan Bs and exit routes?” She argued that negative perceptions of Muslim communities were not emerging organically but were being driven by political and media elites. “The good news is, this is not bottom up,” she said. “This is not ordinary people sat there thinking, ‘Oh, I really have an issue with Muslims, and I'm now going to have quite hateful views about them.’ This is people in power and people with big platforms constantly telling us, ‘We can't trust Muslims. They're all dangerous, they're violent, the men are sexually predatory, the women are traditionally submissive.’” “It’s these tropes which we’re constantly being told about Muslim communities, which, in the end, poisons the public discourse to a point where we start seeing this community in the worst possible light.” read the complete article