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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In the United States, a new report from CAIR finds that roughly one in every two Muslim college students in California have experienced harassment or discrimination, while the U.S. House of Representatives has passed a sweeping new bill which if passed into law would allow the federal government to revoke the tax-exempt status of non-profit entities which “support terrorist organizations”, and lastly the New York Times has put together an extensive review of President-Elect Donald Trump’s new Defense Secretary pick, Pete Hegseth. Our recommended read of the day is by Jonah Valdez for The Intercept on how the U.S.’s refusal to acknowledge the ICC arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant represents a pattern of willful collaboration with governments and persons guilty of crimes against humanity. This and more below:
United States
War Crimes Have Never Stopped the U.S. Before | Recommended Read
In 2002, President George W. Bush signed a bill into law that gave the U.S. president the power to invade the Netherlands — or anywhere else on earth — in order to liberate an American citizen or citizen of a U.S. ally being detained for war crimes at the International Criminal Court, based in the Dutch city of The Hague. Among the lawmakers who voted in favor of the bill: then-Delaware Sen. Joe Biden. While the president has yet to make good on this military threat, the law, which is still on the books, serves as good shorthand for the U.S. relationship to the international institution of justice. The bill was meant to fend off the specter of American troops standing trial for atrocities committed during the fledgling “war on terror,” but the U.S. horror of The Hague has its roots in the longstanding policy of unconditional support for Israel. That same year Bush and his Israeli counterpart, Ariel Sharon, withdrew the U.S. and Israeli signatures from the Rome Statute, the treaty that formed the ICC. U.S.-Israel opposition to any attempt by the court to hold Israel accountable for possible international law violations has been ironclad ever since. The ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant on Thursday, alleging that the leaders intentionally blocked humanitarian aid from entering Gaza in order to target Palestinian civilians and targeted civilians with military strikes on Gaza. They also issued a warrant for Hamas leader Muhammad Deif, while also rescinding warrants for Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar, two Hamas leaders killed by Israel. Israel has also claimed to have killed Deif. The warrants, issued by a panel of three judges, require the 124 member nations of the Rome Statute to arrest Netanyahu and Gallant and turn them over to Hague officials for trial the moment that either wanted man steps onto their soil. read the complete article
No space to heal: Anti-Islam sentiments on rise in US California campuses
Roughly one in every two Muslim college students in the US state of California have experienced harassment or discrimination, according to a recently published survey. The report from the California chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Center for the Prevention of Hate and Bullying (CPHB) includes responses from 720 students at 87 public and private colleges and universities across California, which found a 10 percent spike in Islamophobia faced by students since 2020. The October 7, 2023, Hamas-led cross-border attack, as well as Israel's onslaught on besieged Gaza, have exacerbated Islamophobia on campuses as well as "anti-Palestinian hate, and anti-Arab racism, leaving Muslim students feeling targeted and unsupported," CAIR said in a statement. Student-led anti-war protests that erupted nationwide on campuses in the wake of the escalating death toll have been repeatedly met with an effort to stamp them out or otherwise curtail the demonstrations. “This past year has been extremely traumatizing for college students of varying ethnicities within the Islamic faith—all because they valiantly chose to stand up and humanise the plight of Palestinians, who have suffered from over 75 years of oppression, dehumanization, and war," CPHB Director Osman Khan said in a statement. read the complete article
US House passes bill targeting charities and pro-Palestine groups
The US House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill that would grant the Treasury Department the power to revoke the tax-exempt status of any non-profit it deems to be a "terrorist supporting organisation", which could put many pro-Palestinian groups critical of Israel's war on Gaza in danger. HR 9495, the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act, passed by a vote of 219-184, which was split mainly along party lines. Fifteen Democrats, however, voted in favour of the bill, and a lone Republican voted against it. The legislation, which was introduced by a bipartisan cadre of Democrats and Republicans, has two parts. The first would provide tax-exempt status and relief for American hostages being held abroad. The second part would give the treasury secretary the authority to issue notices to organisations, with the intent being to label them "terrorist" supporting groups. Any group that has received this notice could file an appeal. However, the law gives the US Treasury Department the power to issue these designations without explaining its reasons for doing so. The bill's passing was immediately condemned by civil liberties groups, which warned that it could be used to go after pro-Palestinian groups in the US as well as any groups working to facilitate aid into Gaza, where Israeli forces have been overseeing a devastating war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians since October 2023, when the war on Gaza broke out after the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel. read the complete article
The Metamorphosis of Pete Hegseth: From Critic of War Crimes to Defender of the Accused
When Pete Hegseth was an earnest, young Army lieutenant in Iraq in 2005, he was cleareyed on how he viewed crimes committed by soldiers in war. Soldiers in his own infantry company in Iraq in 2006 had shot civilians, executed prisoners and tried to cover up the crimes. “Those are a no-brainer,” he told an audience at the University of Virginia after his deployment. He called the acts of those soldiers, who served in a sister platoon in his company, “atrocities” and added: “Of course that’s wrong. No one is here to defend that.” By the end of his Army career, though, he was repeatedly doing exactly that. As a presenter on Fox News, he portrayed other troops charged with war crimes as “heroes.” The military prosecuting them was, he said, “throwing warriors under the bus.” The once circumspect officer glossed over crucial details, told his TV audience that troops were just “doing the job they were hired to do” and pushed relentlessly for President Donald J. Trump to intervene. It was a stark shift for the man President-elect Trump picked this month to lead the Defense Department. Soldiers who served with Mr. Hegseth say the change was driven in part by a string of military deployments — once to Guantánamo Bay, once to Iraq and once to Afghanistan — that each taught him a new lesson in military dysfunction. The experience transformed him from a neoconservative believer in U.S. military might into an outsider so distrustful of the national security establishment that he repeatedly sided with convicted murderers over Pentagon leadership. read the complete article
Twists and Turns in Sept. 11 Plea Process Are Agonizing, Families Say
Families of the nearly 3,000 victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks may be divided over whether the man accused of being the mastermind of the plot should someday face a death penalty trial or be allowed to plead guilty in exchange for life in prison. But many agree on one thing: The on-again, off-again plea deal process has been agonizing. “It’s a roller coaster that gets you nauseous,” said Julie Boryczewski, whose brother, Martin Boryczewski, a trader at the World Trade Center, was killed in the attacks. Ms. Boryczewski wants Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the main defendant, put to death. Otherwise, she said, terrorism wins. Jessica Trant, whose father, Dan Trant, was killed on Sept. 11, said the uncertainty amounted to “mental warfare.” “Why are we being victimized again?” said Ms. Trant, who also supports a death penalty trial. Sept. 11 families who have been watching the yearslong case at Guantánamo Bay feel whipsawed. On July 31, a senior Pentagon official approved a deal by prosecutors that exchanged life in prison without the possibility of release or appeal. Then Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III rescinded the agreement to try to return the case to a capital trial, a process that would require years of litigation and appeals. Today the case is in legal limbo. read the complete article
United Kingdom
Keir Starmer is letting Muslim communities down over Southport
This summer’s rioting across parts of England and Northern Ireland were a watershed moment in community relations – and the fall-out is beginning to emerge. Fresh British Muslim survey data published by Tell MAMA (which stands for monitoring anti-Muslim attacks) provides much cause for concern. Carried out two months after the start of far-right public disorder following the horrific murder of three little girls in Southport, seven in ten British Muslims surveyed said anti-Muslim hate had become more widespread, with two in three also saying that the potential for risk and harm to their own religious communities had increased. However, it is not all doom-and-gloom and there are also some positive findings which make me feel optimistic. Three in five Muslims said they still feel safe in Britain, with half saying that they felt more open about their religious identity in the aftermath of the riots (especially when talking with friends and work colleagues). The findings show that while we are a relatively successful multi-ethnic and religiously diverse democracy, there needs to be a more robust approach when it comes to ‘managing’ this diversity – which is not necessarily easy. For the newly elected Labour government, the Southport atrocity and subsequent disorder was quite the baptism of fire – but its response to the far-right rioting was left wanting and appears to have alienated a variety of groups in modern Britain. read the complete article