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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In the United States, an immigration judge has ordered the deportation of pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil to either Algeria or Syria, over claims he “omitted information from a green card application”, elsewhere in the US, a Texas man was charged on Thursday with threatening Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, sending him messages filled with anti-Muslim insults calling him a terrorist and warning him “not to start his car”, and in India, the country’s ruling party (BJP) has been accused of “open hate-mongering” after releasing an AI-generated video targeting Muslims in the election-bound northeastern state of Assam. Our recommended read of the day is by Haluk Dogan for TRT World, who notes that “Palestinian sufferings started long before October 7, 2023. The Israeli narrative of pinpointing that date is nothing but an attempt to deny what happened before.” This and more below:
International
Netanyahu’s 9/11 analogy a thin disguise for Israel’s systematic slaughter of Palestinians | Recommended Read
Israel’s strike on Qatar’s Doha on September 9, targeting a Hamas leadership gathering to consider a ceasefire proposal, showed the Zionist state’s determination to escalate a conflict that has already devastated Palestinian lives for nearly two years. It follows the regime’s recent plan to fully reoccupy Gaza, which has been executed through a ground invasion, signalling an intention to intensify violence and to reject ceasefire efforts outright. Facing mounting criticism, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used the 24th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks on American soil to defend Israel’s attack as part of a broader assault, framing October 7 as Israel’s own 9/11 and drawing parallels to the US response, emphasising the sweeping excess of the American reaction. In doing so, Netanyahu offered a revealing explanation for what many analysts have described with terms such as “insanity” and “madness”. The overlap is striking: just as critics portray Israel’s conduct as unhinged violence, Netanyahu himself reaches for the 9/11 analogy; a framing that presents Israel’s actions as the aftermath of trauma, an extreme response to a shattering event. Yet the language of “insanity” and “madness,” though it captures the sheer inhumanity of the genocidal violence, risks obscuring a crucial truth: this campaign is not simply a reactive or unintentional spasm of chaos unleashed after October 7, 2023. The 9/11 parallel, far from legitimising Israel’s conduct, underscores its intentional and evil nature. read the complete article
United States
US judge orders deportation of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil
An immigration judge in the US has ordered the deportation of pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil to either Algeria or Syria, over claims he omitted information from a green card application. Judge Jamee Comans, based in Louisiana, said Mr Khalil "wilfully misrepresented material fact(s) for the sole purpose of circumventing the immigration process". In a statement to the American Civil Liberties Union, Mr Khalil said: "It is no surprise that the Trump administration continues to retaliate against me for my exercise of free speech." Mr Khalil, a permanent US resident of Palestinian descent, was a prominent figure during the 2024 Gaza war protests at Columbia University, where he studied. Lawyers for Mr Khalil, 30, said they would appeal against the decision, and added that separate federal court orders remained in effect that prohibit the government from deporting or detaining him. read the complete article
Texas Man Is Charged With Making Threats Against Mamdani
A Texas man was charged on Thursday with threatening Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, sending him messages filled with anti-Muslim insults calling him a terrorist and warning him not to start his car, suggesting that it would explode. The man, Jeremy Fistel, 44, pleaded not guilty in a Queens criminal court to a 22-count indictment that includes charges of making a terroristic threat and aggravated harassment. Prosecutors said he had left a barrage of messages over seven weeks starting in June, as Mr. Mamdani’s campaign was heating up and his public profile rose dramatically. This week, Mr. Fistel was extradited from Plano, Texas, by New York City police officers, officials said. In court on Thursday morning, Judge Michelle Johnson set his bail at $30,000 and issued Mr. Mamdani, a state assemblyman from Queens, an order of protection against him. Mr. Mamdani’s campaign said in a statement that he was grateful to Ms. Katz “for treating this matter with the seriousness it deserves.” “We cannot and will not be intimidated by racism, Islamophobia, and hate,” the statement said. “Zohran remains steadfast in his conviction that New York must be a city where every single person — regardless of faith, background, or identity — is safe, protected, and at home.” read the complete article
Ilhan Omar faces calls for US citizenship to be revoked and deportation to Somalia over Charlie Kirk comments
Ilhan Omar, one of the first two Muslim women to serve in Congress, is facing calls for her US citizenship to be revoked amid a controversy over comments she made and a video she shared about conservative commentator Charlie Kirk after his assassination. Ms Omar, a Somalia-born Democrat from Minnesota, drew the ire of Republicans after she reposted a video that said Mr Kirk had “denied the genocide happening in Palestine” and had been “spewing racist dog whistles”. She also sat for an interview with broadcaster Mehdi Hasan, in which she said she was mortified by Mr Kirk's murder and expressed empathy for his children, but criticised his views of gun ownership and race relations after George Floyd's 2020 death in Minneapolis. In the same interview, Ms Omar accused Republicans of double standards for saying the left is responsible for the sentiment that fuels political violence while ignoring their own role, and that of President Donald Trump who “has incited violence against people like me". Republican Nancy Mace appears to have been particularly incensed by Ms Omar's interview and her reposting of the video. She filed a resolution in Congress to have her censured and removed from two House committees. The motion was set aside by the slimmest of margins on Wednesday, 214-213, when four Republicans voted with Democrats to shelve it. Ms Mace, whose office on Capitol Hill is next to Ms Omar's, has also called for the revocation of her US citizenship, which she attained in 2000 after fleeing her homeland's civil war in 1991. read the complete article
India
Backlash against ‘hate-mongering’ BJP video targeting Muslims in Assam: ‘This cannot be India’
India’s ruling party has been accused of “open hate-mongering” after releasing an AI-generated video targeting Muslims in the election-bound northeastern state of Assam. The video, shared by the official X account of the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP's) Assam state chapter, portrays Muslims as illegal immigrants who seize land owned by the government across the northeastern Indian state. The video showed Muslims, mostly men wearing an Islamic skull cap, a traditional tunic and a loongi or a traditional South Asian sarong, at government establishments such as airports, tea estates, heritage sites, and the stadium in the capital, Guwahati. Muslim women in the video were depicted wearing a hijab or burqa. Captions on the video said it portrayed “Assam without [the] BJP” and called it the “dream” of opposition deputy leader Gaurav Gogoi, who is Assamese. It also claimed an unspecified “link” between Mr Gogoi’s opposition Congress party and Pakistan, showing opposition leader Rahul Gandhi addressing a crowd alongside the Pakistani flag. The video falsely claimed that the state’s Muslim population would rise to 90 per cent over an unspecified period – a nod to the wider so-called “replacement theory”, stoked by right-wing groups, that Muslims will one day replace Hindus as India’s majority religion. Muslims currently comprise 34.22 per cent of Assam’s total population of 10.7 million, according to the most recent census conducted in 2011. read the complete article