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SearchToday in Islamophobia: The New York Times has been accused of silencing an investigation into the Israeli mob violence that occurred in Amsterdam earlier this month according to internal emails seen by The Electronic Intifada, meanwhile in India, a political ad running in the state of Jharkhand has been subject to a take-down request after complaints made to the Election Commission called the anti-Muslim ad “misleading and divisive”, and in the US, a new report out by CAIR has found that 49% of Muslim college students in California have been subject to some form of anti-Muslim harassment in the last school year. Our recommended read of the day is by Clive Stafford Smith and Omar Suleiman for Al Jazeera on how the US Bureau of Prisons is refusing to allow the only woman who went through the full US Rendition and Torture program, Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, visits from an imam while incarcerated. This and more below:
United States
‘Most oppressed Muslim woman in the world’ now denied religious solace | Recommended Read
We have recently – imam and lawyer – joined forces, along with so many unsung heroes, to demand respect for the humanity of Dr Aafia Siddiqui. She is often called the “Most Oppressed Muslim Woman in the World” – and with good cause. There is no other woman who went through the full US Rendition to Torture program. There is no other example of a case where a woman was abducted by the CIA and their Pakistani co-conspirators along with her three small children. And is there a parent in the world who does not tremble at the fate that befell those kids? Suleman, aged 6 months, was apparently killed when he was dropped on his head during the abduction. The CIA has never let Aafia know, but this happened on March 30, 2003, in Karachi, so it seems unlikely that the child is still alive. Yet which fate would be worse for the mother – to know the infant who was so recently a part of your body is dead? Or to hold out a faint hope two decades later that he lives? It might seem obvious that Suleman did die once you hear what our government – the US – did to the other two. Mariam, aged 3, was taken all the way to Afghanistan, a war zone, where her name was changed to Fatima and she was involuntarily put in a family of white Christian Americans for seven years. She would still be there but for former President Hamid Karzai, who later helped get her home. Then there is Ahmed, who was taken to Kabul and put in prison, at the age of six! He was told his name henceforth was to be Ihsan Ali and that he would be killed if he said it was anything else. Ahmed and Mariam are both US citizens, and it is mind-boggling that the CIA, sworn to uphold the US Constitution, would do this to two children from anywhere, let alone kids carrying US passports. Aafia was herself taken to Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan where she endured five years of torture. Eventually, through an agonizing path, she ended up in FMC Carswell, a federal women’s prison in Fort Worth, Texas, serving what is essentially a life sentence. read the complete article
'Stop Using Racist Tropes That Feed Into This Hate': Rashida Tlaib Denounces Rise In Islamophobia
During remarks on the House floor, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) spoke about the rise in Anti-Palestinian, Anti-Arab and Islamophobic hate crimes, and denounced rhetoric that feeds into it. 4) One in three British Muslims consider leaving UK due to Islamophobia: report (United Kingdom) Most British Muslims believe Islamophobia has increased since the summer riots following the Southport stabbings in England’s Merseyside, with one in three considering leaving the UK, according to a report released on Wednesday by the anti-Muslim crime watchdog, Tell MAMA. A survey carried out by the organisation highlights growing concerns within British Muslim communities after the violent unrest that spread across the country this summer. One in four Muslims surveyed, either online or by phone, reported experiencing anti-Muslim hate or Islamophobia following the mass stabbing on 30 July in Southport. The violence, triggered by false online claims that a Muslim asylum seeker was responsible for the fatal stabbing of three children, sparked a wave of riots around the country, targeting immigrants and Muslims. Two-thirds of respondents felt the risk of harm to Muslim communities had grown since 30 July, with more than two-thirds stating that anti-Muslim hate and Islamophobia had become more widespread. read the complete article
Nearly half of Muslim students at California universities say they have been harassed, survey finds
Nearly half of Muslim students surveyed at California colleges and universities say they have been targets of anti-Islamic harassment or discrimination in the last school year as pro-Palestinian protests erupted on campuses, a sharp increase from four years ago, the Council on American Islamic Relations said in a new report. The study, which surveyed hundreds of Muslim students attending a cross-section of about 87 California public and private campuses, found that 49% of students, or 352 of 720 of respondents, said they had experienced anti-Muslim acts by students, staff or administrators at school. CAIR and the Center for the Prevention of Hate and Bullying, a CAIR-affiliated group that jointly published the study, attributed the rise to widespread pro-Palestinian protests, which in the past year led to hundreds of arrests and multiple lawsuits against universities, including UCLA and USC, over accusations of unjustified police use of force, free speech and equal access violations. read the complete article
'A danger to the people of Illinois': Calls mount for lawmaker to step down over alleged racist comments
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and other leaders have joined a high school teacher in urging Illinois State Sen. Sara Feigenholtz to resign following allegations of racist remarks. Fuzia Jarad, a high school English teacher from Oak Lawn, described a personal encounter in which she said Feigenholtz made offensive comments. "Senator Feigenholtz is a danger to the people of Illinois. She made incredibly racist statements to my face," Jarad said. Jarad joined leaders affiliated with CAIR on Wednesday, calling on Feigenholtz to step down, referencing an alleged pattern of anti-Muslim rhetoric. The 6th District Democrat has been under fire all month after replying to a post on "X" that referred to those who praise Islam as "bootlickers," suggesting, "they move to an Islamic country and stick their heads in the dirt multiple times a day for enlightenment." "One part of the conversation that remains with me was when she said, ‘before we know it, Muslims and people from over there will be here on the streets shooting people.’ She followed up by saying, 'we already have Saturdays and Sundays off. What's next, Fridays too?' I was stunned by these comments," Jarad said. Feigenholtz has denied the accusations. read the complete article
Former Guantanamo prisoners fear Trump will revisit US's harrowing 'War on Terror'
While the world caught its breath watching the US presidential election, Yemeni national Mansoor Adayfi felt a suffocating sense of dread after the results were announced. He watched in horror from his new home in Serbia, where he was released in 2016 after spending over 14 years without charge in Guantanamo Bay, at the comeback of Donald Trump as he swept the seven swing states in the US, guaranteeing that he would become the country's 47th president. The re-election of the populist Republicans was received with fear by their families and the dozens of former prisoners still enduring the aftermath of their imprisonment. Adayfi argues the new government has shattered any hope for the closure of the infamous naval base. Today, 30 men remain detained in the remote prison camp. Of those, 16 have been cleared for release. Others, dubbed "forever prisoners", languish in legal limbo while military commissions drag on with no clear resolutions to their cases. read the complete article
India
Modi’s party told to take down campaign ad targeting Muslims
A campaign ad by prime minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist ruling party was taken down from social media after it was attacked for promoting anti-Muslim sentiment. The ad was released on Saturday as part of the BJP’s campaign in the eastern state of Jharkhand, which voted in the second phase of the regional election today. It showed Muslims seemingly taking over a Hindu family home in an apparent reference to “infiltration” from Bangladesh, which has been mentioned by the prime minister and his home minister Amit Shah. In the ad, a Hindu man opens the door to see a crowd of seemingly poor men, women and children, dressed in skull caps and hijabs, entering his home. The Hindu woman of the house, wearing a mangalsutra and a bindi, covers her nose while looking concerned as the man screams: “They are ruining our home.” One of the intruders, wearing a torn brown vest, tells the homeowners: “We have come because of the government you voted for,” in an apparent reference to the state’s ruling alliance of the Congress party and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha. “So your home should be destroyed as well. Why only our slum,” he adds, as the ad accuses the state government of “minority appeasement”. The ad was taken down after Congress complained against the “misleading and divisive” video to the Election Commission of India, the constitutional authority responsible for administering elections in the country. read the complete article
For far-right groups in India, Instagram has become a place to promote violence, report shows
A new analysis of Instagram posts involving hate crimes in India claims that Meta’s widely used social networking platform has become a hub to promote, glorify and in some ways, reward violence. The report, published by the Washington based think-tank Center for the Study of Organized Hate (CSOH), details how the platform amplifies and promotes violent and hateful content, allowing accounts that post hate crimes to fundraise on Instagram in violation of Meta’s content policies. These attackers, self-styled as “cow vigilantes,” target people transporting cattle, claiming they are protecting the animals considered sacred by many Hindus. Often, these victims are Muslim, India’s largest religious minority. Close to a third of the more than 1,000 Instagram accounts researchers tracked over six months posted videos of brutal physical assaults. “For years, Instagram has served as a safe haven for militant cow vigilante groups and individuals to share extremist content, glorifying and encouraging violence in complete violation of the platform’s content policies. This report reveals a terrifying new reality faced by Muslim minorities in India, whose lives and livelihoods are continuously under threat as Meta enables these groups to thrive on its platforms,” said Raqib Hameed Naik, the executive director of CSOH. India is home to nearly 200 million Muslims, the third largest population of Muslims in the world. Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister since 2014, champions Hindutva, a nationalistic ideology built on a belief that India should be a Hindu-controlled state. The decade of Modi’s rule has been marked by increased violence against India’s religious minorities. India also has more Instagram users than any other country in the world, with hundreds of millions of active users. Young men are particularly influenced by violent and hateful content, Naik said. read the complete article
United Kingdom
Deep impact of Islamophobia to be discussed at event in Bradford
The deep impact of Islamophobia on people’s lives is set to be discussed at a unique event this November. ‘Islamophobia and Racism: Same or different?’ is taking place at Britannia House, between 12pm and 2.30pm, on November 28. The Racial Equality Network (REN), which has organised the event, said: “For Islamophobia Awareness Month, we are holding an event to foster an understanding of Islamophobia and its impact on individuals and communities. The theme of Islamophobia Awareness Month is Seeds of Change and the event seeks to hold important conversations and bring communities together.” The event has been organised alongside Bradford Council, Bradford Children and Families Trust, and the Council for Mosques. read the complete article
Netherlands
The pogrom that wasn’t
On November 6 and 7, fans of the Israeli football team Maccabi Tel Aviv rampaged through Amsterdam ahead of a match between their team and the Dutch football club Ajax. They assaulted local residents, attacked private property, destroyed symbols of Palestinian solidarity, and chanted racist, genocidal slogans that glorified the slaughter of children in Gaza and the death of all Arabs. While the Israeli fans were provided with a police escort, pro-Palestine demonstrations were either cancelled or relocated. On the night of November 7, following the match, local residents responded to these events by attacking Maccabi fans. Five people were briefly hospitalised but later discharged and 62 people were arrested, 10 of whom were Israeli. A letter, released by the Amsterdam City Council and recounting the events, noted that “from 01:30 onward [on Thursday night], reports of street violence rapidly declined”. The story could have ended there. It didn’t. Overnight, the Israeli propaganda machine went into overdrive, and by Friday morning, the world awoke to news that “anti-Semitic squads” had gone on a “Jew hunt” in Amsterdam. Israeli President Isaac Herzog denounced the “anti-Semitic pogrom”, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that military planes would be dispatched to evacuate Israeli citizens. A wave of disinformation unleashed from Israel was replicated unchecked by Western media and the usual cohort of Western leaders, each outdoing the other at expressing the most outrage. In the following days, the “pogrom” narrative fell apart, as more details and witness accounts surfaced. As the dust settled, one thing became clear: Palestinian solidarity is stronger than ever, and Zionism is crumbling. As major Western media outlets sought to portray the events of November 7 in the terms the Israeli government had outlined, many failed to stick to the facts. read the complete article
International
NYT 'ignored Israeli fan violence' in Amsterdam attacks
The New York Times (NYT) has been accused of axing an investigation into Israeli mob violence in Amsterdam earlier this month, according to internal emails seen by the pro-Palestine news site The Electronic Intifada on Tuesday. NYT reporter Christiaan Triebert, who is part of the Visual Investigations team, allegedly informed senior manager Charlie Stadtlander about his proposed investigation into the events in Amsterdam from 6 to 8 November, the report said. Triebert then expressed concerns about the accuracy of the NYT's initial coverage, according to the report, which depicted Israeli football hooligans as victims of anti-semitic violence, contrary to available video evidence. It came after Maccabi Tel Aviv fans clashed with Amsterdam locals, with the war on Gaza said to be a key reason for the initial violence that saw locals attacked, Palestinian flags torn down, and anti-Arab racist songs chanted by the travelling Israeli supporters. "Unfortunately, that story was killed," Triebert allegedly wrote in the email. "I regret that the planned moment-by-moment visual investigation was not further pursued. This has been very frustrating, to say the least." read the complete article