Today in Islamophobia

Today in Islamophobia: In Canada, police are investigating threatening emails sent to eight Muslim schools across the country warning of violence against Muslims, meanwhile in the United Kingdom, the Home Office has provided a record £66 million in emergency security funding to mosques and related Muslim community sites following the 2024 Southport disorder, and lastly in India, hundreds of Muslims have protested the planned partial demolition of a mosque in Ujjain that they say is more than 600 years old, with authorities citing road widening ahead of a major Hindu pilgrimage. Our recommended read of the day is by David Issacharoff for Haaretz on Israel’s upcoming election and how anti-Arab and anti-Muslim rhetoric and rules surrounding Palestinian political representation have shaped the campaign. This and more below:

Israel

Welcome to Israel's Most Racist Election | Recommended Read

Over the weekend, while driving on Tel Aviv's central highway, I saw an Arabic phrase written in Hebrew and Arabic on a billboard: "Yalla bara!" – meaning, "Get out!" Beside the caption was Sami Abu Shehadeh, an Arab party leader whom all Jewish parties in the Knesset are seeking to disqualify over his pro-Palestinian rhetoric after October 7. The billboard belonged to ultranationalist Itamar Ben-Gvir, who boasted of keeping an Arab politician out of parliament at the bottom of the ad. Shouting "Bara!" is a familiar anti-Arab trope in Israel, including among right-wing lawmakers in the Knesset. Now it has become an election ad welcoming you to Israel's most racist election to date. The billboard capped a successful week for racism. Israel's Central Elections Committee, dominated by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, voted to bar all Arab parties from running, which the Supreme Court will now have to decide whether to uphold. With only a month until Israelis vote, ethnicity is setting the rules. Candidates and party leaders across the pro-Netanyahu bloc who urged "total annihilation" and openly called for mass civilian killings in Gaza are welcome on the ballot. But Arab candidates who fiercely condemned both October 7 and Hamas need judges' permission to appear on it. Don't give Ben-Gvir the credit, though. It's Netanyahu's campaign that frantically fuels this mix of anti-Arab racism and Islamophobia. His central election message: "Gadi Eisenkot will form a government with Arab parties." read the complete article

United Kingdom

What life is like for Muslims in Britain's 'Islamophobia hotspot'

According to new analysis from the British Muslim Trust, recorded attacks on Muslim sites are becoming more severe. Monitoring groups say a mosque in the UK is now attacked every five days. We visited one of the Islamophobia 'hotspots' in the UK to understand how the lives of British Muslims have changes in recent years. One man told us he 'feels like a moving target', and a woman named Amberina shared the story of a man ramming his bicycle into her and swearing at her about her faith. read the complete article

Mosques given £66m in emergency security funds after Southport disorder

A record £66m of emergency security funding was issued by the Home Office for mosques and related community sites in the UK when violent disorder spread in the aftermath of the Southport attacks in 2024. Exclusive figures obtained by the Guardian also reveal a record of about £41m in security funding was issued for mosques and related community sites for the year from April 2025-26 as part of the protective security scheme. The chief executive of the British Muslim Trust, the government’s partner for monitoring anti-Muslim hatred, said the figures “tell an incredibly sombre story about the rise in anti-Muslim hostility that British Muslims are living with”. “Security needs are increasing as a direct response to the increase in attacks that mosques are under,” Akeela Ahmed said. “If we want to bring down the costs for protecting British Muslims in the UK then we need to reduce the need for protection and address the root causes of hate against Muslim communities.” read the complete article

Palestine Action protesters arrested outside UK Labour Party conference

Police in the United Kingdom have arrested more than 50 people protesting in support of the banned Palestine Action group outside a Labour Party conference in the northwestern English city of Liverpool. The police said those taken into custody at the protest, organised by Defend Our Juries, had displayed material in support of Palestine Action, proscribed as a “terrorist” group by the Labour government in July 2025 under the Terrorism Act. After asking demonstrators if they were going to continue holding up the signs, officers led people away, telling them they had been arrested under the Terrorism Act. read the complete article

Islamophobia 'as bad as it was in the 1980s'

The sister of a 13-year-old boy who was murdered by a fellow pupil in their school playground 40 years ago has said Islamophobia "is as bad as it was in the 1980s". Ahmed Iqbal Ullah, a British Bangladeshi, was stabbed at Burnage High School in Manchester on 17 September 1986. An inquiry into the teenager's death examining racism and violence in Manchester's schools concluded that race was a key factor in the Bangladeshi's murder. Speaking to BBC Radio 5 live on the 40th anniversary of Ahmed's loss, Selina Ullah said: "I've got children and grandchildren now and for them to experience what I experienced - what my generation, my friends, my brother experienced - is heartbreaking and terrifying." read the complete article

Australia

Special Envoy releases guidance to support universities in defining Islamophobia

Australia's Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia, Aftab Malik, has released guidance to support the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) and Australia's higher education providers as they prepare to adopt a definition of Islamophobia under the amended Higher Education Standards Framework. The guidance, The Challenges of Defining Islamophobia: Contextual Guidance for the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) , provides universities with a practical framework to develop definitions that reflect their unique communities while supporting the safety, wellbeing and participation of Muslim students and staff. Rather than prescribing a single definition, the guidance recognises the complexity of the issue and encourages higher education providers to undertake meaningful consultation with students, staff and communities. It acknowledges that there is no universally agreed definition of Islamophobia and outlines a process that allows institutions to develop approaches appropriate to their own context. The guidance also recognises that Islamophobia can overlap with other forms of discrimination and hostility, including anti-Palestinian racism and anti-Arab racism. While these are distinct forms of prejudice, universities should take an informed and nuanced approach to understanding how they can intersect and impact the experiences of students and staff on campus. read the complete article

Palestinian careers adviser who was allegedly told to stop wearing keffiyeh at NSW school sues state for racial discrimination

A Palestinian Australian careers adviser who was allegedly directed to stop wearing a keffiyeh at a Sydney government school because it was a symbol that “may cause discord” has lodged a racial discrimination case in the federal court against the state of New South Wales. Wasim El-Haj, a former careers adviser at Sydney Girls High School – an inner-city selective government school – alleges the then acting principal told him in 2024 that the keffiyeh was seen as a symbol of conflict. He alleges the state’s conduct is unlawful for breaching the Racial Discrimination Act. El-Haj began wearing the keffiyeh – a traditional scarf linked to the struggle for a Palestinian state for decades – at school in January 2024, three months after Hamas’s 7 October attacks and Israel’s subsequent war on Gaza. His statement of claim, filed in the federal court last month, alleges Geoffrey Denyer, the then acting school principal, met with him on 15 May 2024 and said words to the effect of “I have been directed to direct you to remove this item of clothing”, indicating to El-Haj’s keffiyeh. Denyer also said words to the effect of the direction had come “from above, possibly from the minister” and that action would be taken if El-Haj did not comply, the statement of claim alleges. El-Haj alleges that in a further conversation with Denyer he said words to the effect of “any symbol of Palestine is seen as a symbol of conflict”. read the complete article

India

Muslims protest planned demolition of ‘600-year-old’ mosque in India

Hundreds of Muslims have gathered in the Indian city of Ujjain to protest the partial demolition of a mosque they say is more than 600 years old. The BJP-led state government says the action is needed to widen roads ahead of the 2028 Hindu pilgrimage, which is expected to draw large crowds. read the complete article

Canada

Email threatening to kill Muslims sent to 9 Canadian schools

Police in Ontario's Peel and Waterloo regions, London, Ottawa and Montreal have all launched investigations into an email sent to Islamic schools across Canada over the course of this week, which threatened to kill Muslims unless they are deported. The Muslim Association of Canada, which runs the nine private schools that received the email, said it alerted municipal police in Ontario, Vancouver and Montreal, as well as the RCMP. The email alludes to the upcoming Alberta referendum and uses dehumanizing language against Muslims, making threats about what will happen once ‘Alberta becomes its own nation.’ read the complete article

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