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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In the United States, President-elect Donald Trump is encouraging a Florida legislator who celebrated the killing of an American citizen by the Israeli military to run for Congress, meanwhile in India, a court hearing scheduled for Monday in Delhi will decide the fate of jailed activist Umar Khalid, who has been behind bars without trial for four years, and in the UK, Imam Adam Kelwick receives the most impactful Imam accolade at the British Beacon Mosque Awards in recognition of his work to bring the community together after the Southport Mosque attack. Our recommended read of the day is by Simone Weichselbaum for NBC News on how the incoming Trump administration and congressional Republicans are planning on putting into law measures to silence pro-Palestinian voices and aid groups. This and more below:
United States
How the Trump administration and congressional Republicans may crack down on pro-Palestinian protesters | Recommended Read
Congressional Republicans and former Trump appointees have spent the last year building out their response to the movement protesting Israel’s war in Gaza, and now that Donald Trump is returning to the White House they warn that protest leaders, activists and those who help them raise money could face an onslaught of federal investigations and possible indictments. An NBC News review of congressional hearings and letters, along with lawsuits filed by organizations led by former Trump officials, provides a preview of which federal laws a second Trump administration could use when pursuing investigations and potential prosecutions. Judging from what has been pushed thus far, there are several legal measures most likely to be used once Trump returns to Washington. One would be deporting foreign college students in the U.S. on a visa after they’re found to have openly advocated for Hamas or another U.S.-designated terror group, or after they participated in an unauthorized campus protest and were suspended, expelled or jailed. Another measure would be to pursue federal prosecutions of demonstrators who block synagogue entrances or disrupt Jewish speakers at events. A third approach is to charge protest leaders and nonprofits that aid in fundraising for protest groups with failing to register with the U.S. Justice Department as an “agent of a foreign principal.” And a fourth avenue is to open investigations into protest leaders who are in direct contact with U.S.-designated terror groups while advocating on their behalf. read the complete article
Progressives Raise Alarm On Anti-Arab Discrimination In Israel’s Visa Waiver Program
At least 20 House Democrats have sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas demanding transparency and accountability related to reports of Muslim and Arab Americans ― particularly Palestinians ― facing discrimination under Israel’s Visa Waiver program. In the Friday letter first obtained by HuffPost and spearheaded by Reps. Jamaal Bowman (N.Y.) and Summer Lee (Penn.), the lawmakers expressed concern about Israel not complying with the Visa Waiver Program’s requirements established last year. The program lets Israeli citizens enter the U.S. visa-free for up to 90 days for business, tourism or transit ― in return, all U.S. citizens can request visa-free entry into Israel under the same terms. One of the program’s main requirements is that both the U.S. and Israel maintain reciprocal treatment of their citizens. This means that all citizens of one country who have applied through the program to enter the other country must be treated equally regardless of ethnicity, religion and national origin. But with mounting reports that Israel has been discriminating against Muslim and Arab Americans trying to enter the country, Thursday’s letter calls for more transparency into the program, as well as additional documentation on Israel’s compliance ― and if violations persist, a suspension of Israel’s participation. read the complete article
Two Truths, One Reality: Rejecting the Normalization of Anti-Muslim Political Rhetoric
The year is 2008, and a woman confronts then presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) at a rally, expressing her distrust of presidential candidate Barack Obama, a Democratic senator from Illinois. “He’s an Arab,” she claims. Sen. McCain quickly interrupts her: “No, ma’am. He’s a decent family man [and] citizen. . . . He’s not [an Arab].” At the time, most commentators praised Sen. McCain’s defense of Sen. Obama. But a few voices, like former Secretary of State Colin Powell, challenged the narrative of his response: “What if [Obama] is [a Muslim]? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer’s no; that’s not America.” Fast-forward to 2024 to a presidential debate when former President Donald Trump attempted to insult his opponent by claiming he had “become like a Palestinian.” At a rally, Trump took it further, accusing Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) of having “become a Palestinian because they have a couple more votes or something.” Unlike during McCain’s era, however, today’s rhetoric faces even less pushback, marking a disturbing shift in how Muslims and Arabs are discussed in American politics. But is this shift a surprise or a shift at all? Two truths have persisted throughout America’s history: Muslims have always been part of society in the Americas since even before our nation’s inception (the first Muslims arrived as early as the 1500s), and politicians have “otherized” Muslims in their rhetoric. Thomas Jefferson, for instance, is often lauded for his recognition of religious diversity and familiarity with Islam. Yet, Jefferson and other Founders also spoke about Muslims as inherently foreign or alien people (referring to Muslims as Mahometans or Mohammadens), reflecting a broader historical pattern where the ideals of inclusion were marred by exclusion and suspicion. This duality—acknowledging inclusion while otherizing—has shaped political discourse about Muslims through modern times. read the complete article
A Look Into How Hollywood Has Portrayed Muslims Throughout History
The series below outlines the chronological development of Islam and Muslims through the ‘lens’ of Hollywood. I showcase certain films which serve as microcosmic examples of wider sociopolitical, religious and cultural considerations in the past 100 years. What changes have we seen in how Muslims are portrayed, and what are the practical implications of this? We delve into research to uncover the link between media representations and support for public policy, such as military action against Muslims. Finally, I illustrate how Hollywood can embrace a deeper sense of ‘diversity’ by exploring the existential, mystical, spiritual and inspiring aspects of Islam. read the complete article
Trump backs staunchly anti-Muslim Florida lawmaker to run for US Congress
United States President-elect Donald Trump is encouraging a Florida legislator who celebrated the killing of an American citizen by the Israeli military to run for Congress. Trump said in a social media post on Sunday that if State Senator Randy Fine decides to seek a congressional seat in Florida, the state lawmaker would have his “Complete and Total Endorsement”. Fine, who has a long history of anti-Muslim statements, sparked outrage earlier this year when he appeared to praise the killing of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a US activist who was fatally shot by the Israeli military in the occupied West Bank. “Throw rocks, get shot. One less #MuslimTerror ist. #FireAway,” Fine wrote in a social media post in September. Eygi was taking part in a peaceful protest when she was shot. Both Israel and the outgoing administration of US President Joe Biden have dismissed her killing as an accident. Fine’s post – which X (formerly Twitter) found to be in violation of its violent speech policy – is part of a long list of inflammatory, anti-Palestinian and Islamophobic comments by the state legislator. “Fine is a friend to no one except fascism,” Rasha Mubarak, a Palestinian-American activist from Florida, told Al Jazeera. “Trump’s endorsement signals a deepening alignment with the violent, fascist elements within the capitalist class, whose interests are served by sowing division and perpetuating the dominance of imperialism.” read the complete article
Who is Sebastian Gorka? Trump nominee with extreme right-wing ties
President-elect Donald Trump‘s decision to tap Sebastian Gorka to serve in his new administration as deputy assistant to the president and senior director for counterterrorism has raised eyebrows. Gorka faced an untimely exit from the first Trump administration over disagreements with former White House chief of staff John Kelly amid allegations of his ties to fringe figures on the Right. In the first Trump White House, Gorka served as strategist to the president and advised Trump on national security matters. His presence in the president’s orbit was questioned when he showed up to the presidential inaugural ball in 2017 wearing an honorary medal of Hungarian nationalist organization Vitezi Rend. This organization has been linked to Nazis in the 1930s and 1940s. Gorka, who is outspokenly pro-Israel and supportive of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, explained that he wore the medal in honor of his father, Paul Gorka, who was awarded the order of merit in 1979 for his efforts in opposing the Hungarian communist dictatorship. The counterterrorism appointee has also faced allegations of islamophobia for supporting Trump’s proposed travel ban, which targeted Muslim-majority countries that were flagged for security concerns. When critics opposed this policy, Gorka denounced such criticism as “political correctness.” He has also come under fire for statements made about the religion of Islam, namely that it is “not a religion of peace.” In his book, Defeating Jihad: The Winnable War, Gorka traces back the roots of modern Islamic terrorism to seventh-century practices and theology espoused by Muhammad. read the complete article
United Kingdom
The rise in Islamophobia has left Bristol Muslim community with ‘low morale’
November's Islamophobia Awareness month comes after a record number of hate crimes against Muslims in the UK. We spoke to Muslims in Bristol who said they feel the morale is low among people in their community and that more work needs to be done to ensure Bristol is a welcoming city for everyone. Recorded hate crimes towards Muslim communities rose 13 per cent this year across the UK. Tell MAMA, a national project which records and measures anti-Muslim incidents in the United Kingdom, reported an increase in discrimination and abuse directed towards Muslims for displaying Pro-Palestine views. Sedef Ahmad who supports women across several mosques in Bristol and is part of Bristol’s Interfaith forum said that she has felt the need to focus on more wellbeing sessions this year. “We need to make people stronger emotionally to cope with some of the negativity around. I incorporate a lot of my work as a psychologist in the community. “The morale is very low with a lot of people in the Muslim community. It’s not just overt, it may mean they don’t get called for a job interview or they may be treated unfairly without realising it," she said. read the complete article
Councillor raises concerns over 'ongoing' Islamophobic graffiti in Inverclyde
A TOP police officer has told councillors in Inverclyde that cracking down on Islamophobic graffiti in the area remains a ‘high on the list of priorities’. At this week’s meeting of the area's police and fire scrutiny board, Councillor Chris Curley raised concerns over message which had appeared in Port Glasgow in recent months. Councillor Curley’s comments followed an update which noted that 61 hate crimes were recorded in Inverclyde between April and August - influenced by the introduction of the new Hate Crime and Public Order Act earlier this year. In early August, the Telegraph reported that offensive messages had been spray painted on to the side of tenement flats on Fyfe Park Terrace. This followed a wave of unrest in England in the wake of the fatal stabbing of three girls in an incident in Southport on July 29. At the time, Inverclyde MP Martin McCluskey warned that Islamophobia had ‘absolutely no place’ in the area. read the complete article
Muslim leader who embraced protesters given award
A Muslim leader has been recognised after he embraced protesters outside a mosque in the aftermath of the Southport attacks. Crowds gathered outside the Abdullah Quilliam Mosque in Liverpool in August after misinformation was spread online about the knife attack suspect. A counter-demonstration drew hundreds of people and, once the situation had calmed, Adam Kelwick crossed over to speak to those present and images of "beautiful interactions" between Muslims and protesters went viral. After receiving the most impactful imam accolade at the British Beacon Mosque Awards, Mr Kelwick said: "I was just being nice to people who were being nasty." Mr Kelwick said he took food over and shook hands with protesters outside the mosque "when things had calmed down". The 42-year-old said there were "beautiful interactions" as the group from the mosque were able to "break bread" and listen to some people's concerns in "deep conversations". Photographs showed the sharing of food, hugs and handshakes. read the complete article
Netherlands
The Amsterdam Attacks and the Long Shadow of ‘Pogroms’
The eagerness of Mr. Saar to reaffirm the word — echoing statements made by Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, and Deborah Lipstadt, the U.S. State Department’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism — reflected the international Jewish community’s increased sensitivity to antisemitism in the year since Hamas led an attack into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed 1,200 and kidnapped about 250 others. At the same time, Ms. Halsema’s hesitance to use “pogrom” amplified the concern that such rhetoric is being deployed to forward an agenda against Muslims. The Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who also used the word, leads a far-right party that won a plurality of votes last year on a platform that called for ending immigration from Muslim countries, taxing head scarves and banning the Quran. Mr. Wilders has called Moroccan immigrants “scum.” Using “pogrom,” said Hassnae Bouazza, a Dutch-Moroccan journalist and filmmaker, “legitimizes everything” against Muslim migrants and “establishes that there is fear, there is hatred, and the division in the country grows.” Keren Hirsch, a Jewish councilwoman in Amsterdam, backed up Ms. Halsema’s newer statement, posting on social media that the “real problem” was “Jew-hatred,” adding, “And no, you don’t fight that with Muslim-hatred.” “Pogrom” has a historical association with European antisemitism, inflicted in czarist Russia and elsewhere on largely defenseless Jews. The antisemitic attacks in Amsterdam had a different context: international outrage over Israel’s destructive war in Gaza that followed Hamas’s attack. Even aside from the Dutch situation, there is a concern for many in the Jewish community and beyond that using “pogrom” is inaccurate or inappropriate at a time when most Jews live either in liberal democracies that are committed to protecting their rights as minorities or, of course, in a sovereign Jewish state with a famously well-armed military. The “pogrom” reference, after all, is self-consciously a throwback. read the complete article
Australia
The quickest way to divide a country is to ‘other’ those we know little about
Islamophobia, that word at once reviled, championed and misunderstood, has resulted in Australian Muslims being verbally and physically attacked and threatened, and Muslim institutions being vandalised. This spectre has found its home online, where Muslims have been subjected to abuse and hatred, simply because they are Muslim. The Islamophobia Register Australia has been reporting on Islamophobic incidents since 2014, though it existed long before this. After the 2019 Christchurch terror attack, where 51 Muslims were massacred at two mosques in New Zealand, the register reported a four-fold increase in Islamophobic incidents in Australia. At that time, if you asked Muslims how they felt, they would have said that they were scared, anxious about attending mosques and schools, and concerned about their visible markers, identifying them as Muslims. In the year since Hamas’ October 7 terrorist attack in Israel and the continued escalations of violence across the Middle East, Islamophobic incidents reported to the register have skyrocketed. The reported incidents include death threats, physical attacks, and Muslims being sent videos inciting violence against them. The number of reported incidents has increased from an average of 2.52 per week to 17.92 during this time. For context, following the October 7 attack, the register recorded 932 reports of Islamophobia – more than the previous eight years combined. These statistics capture only what has been reported. The response to October 7 has unleashed a tsunami of misinformation and disinformation about Islam and Muslims, and a surge in anti-Muslim sentiment and anti-Palestinian racism. It has done the same for Jewish communities. read the complete article
India
Jailed activist tests India's anti-terror law
Supporters of Indian student activist Umar Khalid hope that a court hearing schedulled for Monday in Delhi will bring some answers as to his fate. Khalid has been kept behind bars without bail or trial for four years, accused of orchestrating deadly riots during anti-government protests in 2020. His supporters claim the government is trying to silence 37-year-old Khalid over his continued dissent against the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The riots in 2020 were sparked by widespread anger over legislation put forward by Modi's government called the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which critics condemned as discriminatory against Muslims. Khalid, a civil rights activist and student leader from Delhi's prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), emerged as a leading voice of dissent against the CAA. The CAA allows for an easier path to Indian citizenship for non-Muslim religious minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. "We will fight this with a smile and non-violence," Khalid was quoted as saying when the protests began in February 2020. However, over 50 people were killed, the majority of them Muslims, in clashes between anti-CAA protesters and counter protesters. read the complete article
International
Amsterdam Violence: ‘How the Media Fell Into Benjamin Netanyahu’s Trap’
This week’s news was a hangover of last’s: Amsterdam’s mayor took back a statement in which she had likened street violence between Israeli Maccabi football fans and Dutch locals to a “pogrom”. In her backtrack, Femke Halsema said Benjamin Netanyahu “totally bypassed” Dutch authorities in his framing of events “while we were still gathering facts,” and her words, plastered across the mainstream media, had been “turned into propaganda”. We commend Halsema for setting the record straight. Now where is the media’s mea culpa? Some have scaled back on their misguided, one-sided reportage. But for all the quiet corrections, we’ve seen little editorial introspection. The question news outlets should be openly asking is: How did we let the narrative become so quickly and so heavily dominated by Netanyahu? Are we… biased? Some of the violence that occurred between 00:30 and 02:30 on 7 November was heinously antisemitic. The words ‘Jew hunt’ were used as racists piggybacked on hooliganism to terrorise Jewish residents and tourists. The violence stormed international headlines with the dramatic development that Israel was “preparing to immediately deploy a rescue mission to the Netherlands,” (BBC News). “Two Hercules planes are going to be flown over with medical supplies,” marvelled Channel 4, citing a report from the IDF. No rescue planes materialised, of course. It was a publicity stunt by Netanyahu, a farcical story, and an incredibly successful one. The Israeli Prime Minister played the Western media for puppets and fools. He co-opted the news agenda with a declaration so dramatic that it normalised days’ worth of headlines likening events to “a second holocaust” (Germany’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock), “pogroms” (Amsterdam’s mayor: comments since revoked) and “Kristallnacht (Netanyahu’s own). read the complete article