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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In the US, Ahmed Ghanim, a prominent Arab and Muslim member of the Royal Oak community in Michigan, was ordered on Monday to leave an event hosted by the Kamala Harris campaign team without being provided a reason, meanwhile experts note that targeted ads by a Republican-linked PAC in the state are “designed to stoke divisions over Israel’s war in Gaza and Lebanon — and play on ethnic and religious tensions”, and according to reporting out by The Intercept, Meta’s Israel policy chief, who is an ex-senior Israeli government official, advocated for the social media giant to censor the Instagram accounts of the pro-Palestinian group, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). Our recommended read of the day is by Ashifa Kassam for The Guardian on a new study by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), which found that out of the 9,600 European Muslims surveyed, 47% reported experiencing racism in the five years before 2022. This and more below
International
Muslims in Europe experiencing ‘worrying surge’ in racism, survey finds | Recommended Read
Muslims across Europe are grappling with a “worrying surge” of racism that is being fuelled in part by “dehumanising anti-Muslim rhetoric”, the EU’s leading rights agency has said, as it published a survey in which nearly half of the Muslim respondents said they had recently experienced discrimination. Published on Thursday by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), the survey of 9,600 Muslims across 13 member states found that racism and discrimination threads through most aspects of their lives. People reported children being bullied in school, inequalities in accessing job opportunities and prejudice when it comes to renting or buying homes “We are witnessing a worrying surge in racism and discrimination against Muslims in Europe,” said the agency’s director, Sirpa Rautio. “This is fuelled by conflicts in the Middle East and made worse by the dehumanising anti-Muslim rhetoric we see across the continent.” The FRA, speaking to Muslims in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden, found that 47% reported experiencing racism in the five years before 2022, up from 39% in 2016. “What we see is that the situation of Muslims is getting worse,” said Vida Beresnevičiūtė, a co-author of the survey. “It’s getting more complicated to live as a Muslim in the EU.” read the complete article
Meta’s Israel policy chief pushed for removal of pro-Palestinian Instagram posts: Report
Meta's Israel policy chief, who is an ex-senior Israeli government official, advocated for the social media giant to censor the Instagram accounts of the pro-Palestinian group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), according to a report this week by The Intercept. Jordana Cutler, Meta's Israel and Jewish diaspora policy chief, had flagged several SJP posts in content escalation channels at Meta - which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp - as well as other posts opposing Israel's foreign policy positions. Pro-Israel groups and the Israeli government have been targeting anti-Zionist groups like SJP, as well as Jewish Voice for Peace, accusing them of being sympathetic to terrorist groups and fomenting support for terrorism on US college campuses for their support of Palestinians amid Israel's ongoing war on Gaza. The Intercept reported that it had reviewed internal documents showing Cutler advocated that Meta remove a JVP post on Instagram that promoted a reading list, including authors associated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP). read the complete article
United States
How Republican-linked ads stir Israel tensions to undermine Kamala Harris
One advertisement says: “Kamala Harris stands with Israel.” The other proclaims that the “two-faced” vice president and Democratic candidate “is campaigning for Palestine and trying to get away with it”. Those contradictory messages have aired in the weeks leading up to a close presidential election in the United States. And both were produced and paid for by the same group: a shadowy Republican-linked political action committee (PAC) bankrolled by an organisation that has hosted events with Republican candidate and former President Donald Trump. But the advertisements targeted two separate sets of voters. The first, touting Harris’s pro-Israel bona fides, went out in areas of Michigan with large Arab American presence, according to Google data. The second, warning of her supposed pro-Palestine bent, targeted towns with large Jewish communities in Pennsylvania. Experts say the messaging blitz is designed to stoke divisions over Israel’s war in Gaza and Lebanon — and play on ethnic and religious tensions. Maya Berry, the executive director of the Arab American Institute think tank, called the advertisements “extraordinary”. “What we’re looking at here is the targeting of specific communities — Arab Americans in Michigan, Jewish Americans in Pennsylvania — with disinformation that is also, I would suggest, both anti-Semitic and anti-Arab,” Berry told Al Jazeera. read the complete article
UCLA students and faculty raise alarm on antisemitic and anti-Palestinian hate amid ongoing protests
To one group, UCLA has become a hotbed of antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias, a campus led by an administration that has not taken enough action to address pro-Palestinian demonstrations that violate university rules and veer into anti-Jewish tropes and slogans. To another, the university has become a site of repression against Muslim, Arab and Palestinian American voices, with excessive security patrols and strict free expression rules that clamp down on pro-Palestinian protesters and their demands that the university divest from ties to Israel’s military. More than a year after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and the nation’s retaliatory war in Gaza ignited campus protests — and nearly six months since a violent mob stormed a UCLA pro-Palestinian encampment — dueling university task forces and divided students and faculty have painted contrasting pictures of the Westwood campus still reeling from its tumultuous spring. read the complete article
Arab Muslim community leader in Michigan ejected from Kamala Harris rally
Ahmed Ghanim, a prominent Arab and Muslim member of the Royal Oak community in Michigan, has been ordered to leave an event hosted by the Kamala Harris campaign team at the Royal Oak Music Theatre, without being provided with any reason as to why. At the venue on Monday, Ghanim, a former congressional candidate in the county Royal Oak belongs to, was escorted by a campaign organiser to two police officers waiting for his arrival. The organiser, who forced Ghanim out of the campaign event 10 minutes after he had taken his seat, told Ghanim he had to leave immediately. In an interview with the Detroit Metro Times, Ghanim said, "I asked why she was kicking me out. She wouldn't answer. I was very calmly asking why I was being kicked out." In early August, US Vice President Kamala Harris was disrupted amid a campaign rally in Detroit by pro-Palestine protesters. She answered their calls for an end to the genocide in Gaza by saying, "If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I'm speaking." This now infamous instance is one among many wherein Harris has condescended towards Muslim and Arab voters and dissenters who wish to move her existing genocidal political position on America's unending support of Israel in its genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza. read the complete article
Netherlands
Netherlands eyes border controls as part of migration clampdown, RTL News reports
The Netherlands looks set to introduce border controls as part of a raft of measures aimed at limiting immigration, Dutch broadcaster RTL reported on Wednesday, citing government sources. The border controls would come into effect at the end of next month, following a similar move by neighbouring Germany which already suspended the freedom of the passport-free Schengen zone in September to tackle illegal immigration. The border checks are part of a broader clampdown on migration proposed by the Dutch right-wing coalition, led by anti-Muslim nationalist Geert Wilders' PVV party. Measures also include limiting asylum permits to a maximum of three years, and restricting possibilities for asylum seekers who are allowed to stay to reunite with family members, RTL said. These plans were already part of the coalition agreement the parties reached in July, following Wilders' resounding election victory almost a year ago. read the complete article
Canada
Letter to the Editor: The University of Calgary continues to play a role in creating an Islamophobia-friendly campus
Over the past year, Muslims at the University of Calgary have experienced a vast increase in targeted hate crimes and prejudice. On Oct. 10, 2023, President Ed McCauley released a statement to all students and staff, condemning terrorist attacks that occured in Israel on Oct. 7, 2024. The language in this email has proven to be deeply problematic, as firstly, it was the first statement on the Israel-Palestine Conflict, and disregarded the hundreds of thousands of Muslim and Palestinian lives that have been affected by the conflict. It is this selectiveness, where only harms committed by Muslims or Palestinians are seen as terrorism, and targets students who practise religion by wearing hijab, and further to people who are visibly of South Asian or Middle Eastern descent. The silence from the university thereafter, despite over 40,000 deaths, and despite many U of C students’ families being affected by the atrocities in Gaza, has further insinuated that crimes committed towards Muslim and Palestinian students are not worthy of acknowledgment or condemnation. read the complete article