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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In the US, Sen. JD Vance unleashed a slew of anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim rhetoric during a podcast episode with Joe Rogan, saying it was “common sense” to exclude people with certain backgrounds from the United States, meanwhile, a report released last week by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), “Being Muslim in the EU: Experiences of Muslims,” showed a marked increase in racism and discrimination against Muslims since 2016, and in India, Hindu nationalists are tying the language of Urdu to Muslims and Islamic culture, as they try to diminish Muslim role in India’s history. Our recommended read of the day is by Azad Essa for Middle East Eye on how Muslim-American organizers for Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign are struggling to convince the community to vote for her. This and more below:
United States
What it's like inside a 'Muslims for Kamala Harris' WhatsApp group | Recommended Read
Muslim-American organisers for Kamala Harris's presidential campaign are struggling to convince the community to vote for her in yet another indication that the Democratic Party may have lost the Muslim vote, Middle East Eye can reveal. With just days remaining before the US presidential election, the admissions by several grassroots Muslim-American organisers in a private WhatsApp group corroborate reports that not only is Donald Trump gaining momentum amongst sections of the Muslim and Arab-American community, but that many have already decided to vote for a third-party candidate to hold the Democrats accountable for the US-sponsored Israeli war on Gaza. Over the past several weeks, MEE has had a front-row seat to discussions and strategies of a group of Muslim volunteers organising for Harris inside one of the many WhatsApp groups set up to help mobilise the community to vote for the current vice president. But organisers in the group have repeatedly conceded that anger and frustration on the ground is visceral, and convincing Muslim voters to endorse the Democratic nominee is proving difficult, and at times, impossible. "Unfortunately polls are not looking good and reality on the ground is different," Ahmad Jamal* wrote earlier this week. read the complete article
Chicago Muslim civil rights group calls for state senator's resignation over social media posts
CAIR Chicago, a Muslim civil rights group, is demanding the resignation of Illinois state Sen. Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago) for promoting anti-Muslim and anti-Arab messages on social media.On its website, CAIR posted screen grabs of Feigenholtz's posts on X, formerly Twitter. In one comment, Feigenholtz called someone a "truth-sayer" after he criticized Westerners who praise Islam and claimed that Muslims treat women like cattle. In a separate post on Facebook, Feigenholtz shared a quote from a former Israeli official about Arabs and Israelis killing each other's children. "In 20 years of this work, the statements shared by Senator Feigenholtz stand out as among the most extreme I have seen from a public official," said CAIR-Chicago executive director Ahmed Rehab. In a statement, Feigenholtz apologized for the comment. read the complete article
Punish Democrats or Stop Trump? Arab Americans are agonizing over their votes.
Arab Americans are one voting bloc that’s used to being slighted by both major parties. In 1984, Walter Mondale, the Democratic candidate for president, returned donations made by Arab Americans; a campaign official at the time said it was the campaign’s policy to refuse contributions from that community. In 1988, Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis rejected an endorsement by an Arab American group. And in 2016, Donald Trump campaigned on banning Muslims from the country and claimed that Arabs in New Jersey cheered as the World Trade Center collapsed on 9/11. Now, Arab Americans feel deliberately ignored and disrespected yet again. The Biden administration’s unflinching political and financial support for Israel — despite the rising death tolls and humanitarian crisis that the war in Gaza has wrought — has roiled the community, and the general lack of empathy the administration has shown for Palestinians has left a bitter taste in people’s mouths. When President Joe Biden dropped out and Vice President Kamala Harris became the party’s nominee, Democrats had a chance at a reset with a voting bloc that could very well tip the election. (Arab Americans make up hundreds of thousands of voters in key swing states.) But many feel the Harris campaign’s outreach to Arab Americans has been, to put it mildly, lackluster at best. “I was like, ‘All right, you have a blank slate, let’s see what you’re going to do with that,’” said Rowan Imran, a Palestinian American who lives in Phoenix. “That was very disappointing to see her dig her heels further in the ground and just uphold every single [Biden] policy … It was very clear that we’re just getting a different face with the same policies.” read the complete article
Trump Bashes Arab Americans. Here’s Why Some Like Him Anyway.
In Dongan Hills, where Trump signs line the front lawns of single-family houses, the Muslim American Society of Staten Island opened a $7 million community center in March. Not far off, two Palestinian restaurants exist within a few blocks of each other. One of them, Ayat, is part of a chain with a branch in Allentown, Pa. Another smaller one, Al Aqsa, is a falafel house named for the mosque in Haram al-Sharif and also quite popular. A sign on the front door announces support for the Palestinian cause. I went in and met the owner, Moe Musa, who expressed support for the Donald Trump cause. Like many small business owners, he was drawn to Mr. Trump as a businessman; research from New American Economy, an organization focused on immigration policy, tells us that Middle Eastern and North African immigrants tend to be entrepreneurs at higher rates than other immigrant groups and Americans. He appreciated how the former president handled Covid, he said, and he held the Biden administration complicit in the devastation of Gaza. Fewer than two blocks away, another Middle Eastern restaurant, Yemen Cafe, opened a few months ago. One of its two owners, Alssedieg Nassir, explained the political tenor in his community to me: “There’s a misunderstanding among a lot of people who automatically think that Arabs are not for Trump. Just because a girl is wearing a hijab, don’t assume her party.” The war was paramount among his concerns. “We’re praying that Trump will do something different,” he said. “I’m not saying he is going to be the savior, but the party here, now, isn’t doing jack.” Mr. Trump has, in fact, spent some time during the final days of his campaign angling for precisely that sort of response, trying to corral the enthusiasms of an Arab and Muslim cohort he had previously condemned. As recently as this summer, he falsely claimed that Ms. Harris planned “to deposit thousands of jihadist sympathizers in Minnesota.” read the complete article
JD Vance Says Anti-Muslim Policies Just ‘Common Sense’ In Joe Rogan Interview
Sen. JD Vance unleashed a slew of anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim rhetoric during a long conversation with podcaster Joe Rogan that aired Thursday, saying it was “common sense” to exclude people with certain backgrounds from the United States. Vance, former President Donald Trump’s running mate, spoke with Rogan for more than three hours, talking at length about the Trump campaign’s plans for the southern U.S. border while criticizing the Biden administration. At one point, Rogan described a “worst-case scenario” for people fearful of a state falling under Islamic law, pointing to a recent law in Minneapolis that allows mosques to broadcast the Muslim call to prayer. “That starts getting real weird,” Rogan told Vance. “When you have people openly saying our goal is … to outbreed everyone who is not Muslim.” “Scares the hell out of me,” Vance replied. “That’s what to me is so crazy … about some of the hyper left-wing reaction. Where you see actual religious tyranny is increasingly in Western societies where you’ve had a large influx of immigrants who don’t necessarily assimilate into western values but try to create, I think, a religious tyranny at the local level.” “And if you think that will happen at a national level, you’re [called] crazy.” Vance then lamented that those who want to exclude people from some nations — referencing the Trump travel ban on people from some majority-Muslim nations, an order that he has pledged to restore — were called racist. read the complete article
Trump courts divided Arab-American voters in must-win Michigan
On a crisp, sunny day in the largest Arab-majority city in the US, dozens of people gathered outside the Great Commoner cafe to catch a glimpse of Donald Trump. “What we want is peace,” Trump told a group of Arab-American business leaders inside the Dearborn, Michigan, restaurant - days before the presidential election. But a crowd of pro- and anti-Trump voters shouting at one another nearby demonstrated how divided the Michigan community has become over choosing the best American president to handle the escalating Middle East war. The Republican’s Friday visit to Dearborn, once a reliably Democratic area, marks the culmination of his efforts to court the 200,000-plus Arab-Americans who live in must-win Michigan. It could sway a tied race between Trump and Kamala Harris. Hillary Clinton lost Michigan to Trump by only 10,000 votes in 2016, while Biden won it back by 150,000 votes in 2020. On billboards lining Michigan highways and during visits, the Trump campaign argues that he stands “for peace” in the Middle East, while casting Harris as pro-Israel. read the complete article
Why many Arab voters in Michigan are flocking to Trump ahead of US election
Samraa Luqman wants Arab Americans to be blamed if Democratic candidate Kamala Harris loses to her Republican rival Donald Trump in the United States election. For too long, Democrats have taken the Arab vote for granted, and it is time for them to pay the price for the United States-backed Israeli war on Gaza and Lebanon, Luqman said. “I will show up the next day if Harris loses, I will say: It’s because of this community, it is because of Gaza and because of the genocide, that you lost,” Luqman told Al Jazeera in her office in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn. “Take the credit for your power. I’m all for it.” The Yemeni American activist is part of a growing electoral bloc that would have been unthinkable a few years ago: Arab Americans for Trump. President Joe Biden’s unconditional support for Israel amid the horrific atrocities in Gaza and Lebanon has left many community advocates like Luqman so distraught that they are forging an alliance with Trump in the hope of change – any change. Despite his history of anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant rhetoric, Trump has extended an arm to such disaffected voters – an outreach campaign that culminated in a visit to Dearborn, where he met with dozens of Arab Americans on Friday. read the complete article
American Muslims Tackle Islamophobia Before Election
TRT World has spoken to American Muslims about their deep concerns and frustrations over the US government's role in fueling Israel's war on Gaza, which they say is leading to a surge in Islamophobia and hate crimes against Muslims, surpassing levels seen during the post-9/11 period. read the complete article
Harris vows at Michigan rally to ‘do everything in my power to end the war in Gaza’
Kamala Harris pledged to “do everything in my power to end the war in Gaza” in her final rally in Michigan on Sunday, as she attempted to appeal to the state’s large Arab American and Muslim American population two days out from the election. Michigan is home to about 240,000 registered Muslim voters, a majority of whom voted for Biden in 2020, helping him to a narrow victory over Donald Trump. But Arab Americans and Muslim Americans in the state have expressed dissatisfaction over the vice-president’s stance on Israel’s war on Gaza, and polling suggests that these voters are gravitating towards Jill Stein, the Green party candidate. With Harris and the former president essentially tied in Michigan, a drop in voting numbers for either could be critical, and Harris made a clear appeal at the beginning of her speech. “It is devastating, and as president, I will do everything in my power to end the war in Gaza, to bring home the hostages, end the suffering in Gaza, ensure Israel is secure and ensure the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, freedom, security and self-determination.” Speaking at the Michigan State University campus, Harris repeated her campaign promise to “turn the page on a decade of politics driven by fear and division”. Harris did not mention Trump by name in East Lansing, as she gave an address that struck a hopeful tone for the future. read the complete article
United Kingdom
It’s Trump’s playbook in the UK. Jenrick mining the Southport atrocity for votes shows he has learned it well
One particularly troubling response came from Conservative party leadership candidate Robert Jenrick. Just 35 minutes after the Merseyside police published its official statement, he released a wildly irresponsible video stating that he was “seriously concerned that the facts may have been withheld”, and that the public “had the right to know the truth right away”. The message was conspiratorial, suggesting the possibility of a cover-up by the police. It echoed the position advanced by Nigel Farage, who has questioned whether the “truth is being withheld”, and was accused of inciting this summer’s riots. And it was just the latest indication that one wing of the Conservative party is becoming radicalised, in much the same way that the US Republican party has shifted towards the extreme right under Donald Trump. The short answer is political gain. Jenrick is playing to the furthest right of the Tory party membership, seemingly in the hope that it will advance his prospects of becoming leader. “Across the board, the hard reality of mass migration is being covered up. The public can see with their own eyes that they are being gaslit by the liberal elite,” he said in the video. He has a history of advancing and exploiting fear over migration for his own ends, once claiming that asylum seekers arriving in small boats “cannibalised” communities by importing “different lifestyles and values”. He advocates for leaving the European convention on human rights and the European court of justice and has bemoaned the role of “woke culture”. This is the politics and rhetoric of the far right. But it also has an increasingly American slant. On a recent appearance on GB News, Jenrick said, “If I were an American citizen, I would be voting for Donald Trump.” During a trip to the Mexico-United States border in February, he observed that there were aspects of Trump’s programme that we could learn from, “one of which is illegal migration”. He has indeed been learning from Trump’s prejudiced playbook. And he isn’t alone. A growing radical right wing of the Tory party combines assertive nationalism, identity-driven hostility to immigration and hatred of a confected “elite”. These politicians, who include Jenrick and the former prime minister, Liz Truss, consciously adopt the language of the American right to generate fear and anger here in Britain. To them, being anti-immigration is just one front in a broader “war on woke” that casts entire groups as enemies to society. read the complete article
Labour government’s shift on Gaza not enough, say British Muslims, scholars
Halimo Hussain, 31, has voted for the Labour Party at every election since she was able to vote. But that stopped with the 2024 July election. “I felt that it was impossible to support the Labour Party while they were actively funding and supporting genocide … and endorsing collective punishment [of Palestinians in Gaza] was unconscionable,” Hussain, a British Muslim and a diversity and inclusion officer from Tottenham in north London, told Al Jazeera. She explained that in the run-up to the election, her efforts were focused on independent candidates who were pro-Palestinian. Nearly four months after the election, Hussain’s views on Labour have not changed despite the party taking a different stance on the war in power than the previous Conservative government. “I think they’ve semi-acknowledged that war crimes are taking place but yet are attempting to go through legal loopholes to keep funding and supporting Israel in its genocidal assault on Gaza, and that to me is insane,” she said, referring to Britain suspending 30 arms export licences to Israel in early September. read the complete article
‘He’s like a gangster’: How Tommy Robinson became leader of Britain’s far right
At a 40,000-strong rally in Trafalgar Square in London in July, the far-right activist Tommy Robinson was characteristically defiant. “Death, prison or glory, we will never submit to your lies,” he declared. “They want to send me to jail [but] the world will know I told the truth.” On Monday, Robinson was duly sentenced to 18 months in prison for contempt of court. He had shown no remorse and there was no realistic prospect of rehabilitation, said Mr Justice Johnson at Woolwich crown court. “All of his actions so far suggest that he regards himself as above the law.” In the dock, Robinson pumped his chest and saluted his loyal supporters in the public gallery. They blew kisses back. He was taken to Belmarsh high-security prison in south-east London. The jailing of Robinson is the latest episode in his apparently inexorable rise from the owner of a tanning salon in Luton, Bedfordshire, to the brash pin-up hero of the far right in the UK, the US and beyond. He is, arguably, the most potent individual to have emerged on the British far right since Enoch Powell. Along the way, he has served four jail terms, and has now begun his fifth. None appear to have led him to reflect on and reconsider his actions; indeed, they have reinforced his image as a political martyr to the cause of rightwing extremism. Robinson is a complex and often contradictory figure, but “we should not underestimate him”, said Nick Lowles, the chief executive of the anti-racism campaign group Hope not Hate, who has watched him closely for years. He is “massively charismatic” with “enormous reach”, said Lowles. “He has an ability to bring huge crowds together on a level that we haven’t seen previously. His videos are watched in the millions.” read the complete article
India
'The language of poetry, protest and peace': Fate of Urdu in Modi's India
With 230 million speakers worldwide, including those who use it as a second language, Urdu is the tenth most spoken language in the world. The word Urdu originated from the Turkish Ordu, which means army, signifying its origins in military barracks or camps. Urdu, one of the 22 languages enshrined under India's constitution, is the mother tongue of at least 50 million people in India. Millions more speak it in Pakistan. Urdu has a rich past that reflects how cultures melded to forge India's complex history. But its literature has been subsumed by the cultural domination of Hindi, struggling against false perceptions that its elegant Perso-Arabic script makes it an import and a language of Muslims in the Hindu-majority nation. Urdu, sharing Hindi's roots and mingled with words from Turkish, Persian and Arabic, emerged as a hybrid speech between those who came to India through trade and conquest and the people they settled down amongst. But Urdu has faced challenges in being viewed as connected to Muslim culture, a popular perception that has grown since the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi took power in 2014. Hard-right Hindu nationalists seeking to diminish Islam's place in India's history have opposed its use. In the past decade, protests have ranged from the use of Urdu in clothing advertisements to even graffiti. "Urdu has been associated with Muslims, and that has hit the language too," said Alam. read the complete article
International
One in two Muslims encounters daily discrimination in Europe: report
Patrick Charlier, director of the Interfederal Centre for Equal Opportunities (Unia), has highlighted the concerning rise of anti-Muslim sentiment across Europe, noting that in Belgium, nine of 10 people facing discrimination are Muslim, particularly veiled women. A report released last week by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), "Being Muslim in the EU: Experiences of Muslims," showed a marked increase in racism and discrimination against Muslims since 2016. The survey, conducted with responses from 9,000 respondents across 13 EU member states between October 2021 and October 2022, found that one in two Muslims encounter discriminatory treatment daily. Discrimination against Muslim women, men and children stems not only from their religion but is also due to factors like skin colour, ethnic background and immigration history. Young Muslims born in Europe and veiled women are particularly affected. Belgium has emerged as a key area for the issues, with 43 percent of Muslims in that country reporting housing discrimination. read the complete article