Today in Islamophobia

A daily list of headlines about Islamophobia
compiled by the Bridge Initiative

Each day, the Bridge Initiative aims to bring you the news you need to know about Islamophobia. This resource will be updated every weekday at approximately 11:00 AM EST.

Today in Islamophobia Newsletter

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03 Jan 2023

Today in Islamophobia: In the United States, a university instructor has been dismissed from their position after they showed an image of Prophet Muhammad during an art history lesson, meanwhile the election of the Speaker of the House of Representatives is up in the air as GOP leader Kevin McCarthy does not have an assured majority to take the gavel, and across the country, many American Muslims continue to face “hostility and surveillance, mistrust and suspicion, questions about their Muslim faith and doubts over their Americanness.” Our recommended read of the day is by Sean Beckner-Carmitchel for Knock LA on how training videos used by the LAPD contain “racist stereotypes and false information that continue to be used in police education.” This and more below:


United States

03 Jan 2023

California’s Bizarre, Racist Law Enforcement Training Videos | Recommended Read

A look at training videos supplied to the LAPD by the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) shows potentially troubling attitudes in policing being taught to police officers taught as part of training videos containing racist stereotypes. POST sets minimum selection and training standards for California law enforcement, and is funded by California taxpayer money as well as criminal and traffic fines. In early December 2022, Hatewatch, a branch of the Southern Poverty Law Center, first broke that a video produced by POST entitled “Radicalization” contained anti-Muslim messaging. At least 71 current LAPD officers watched the video, at least one as recently as August 2022. LASD did not comment on Hatewatch’s article. At the time of publication, the video was no longer available on POST’s training portal. Knock LA has obtained portions of another video titled “Radicalization Countermeasures,” which also includes anti-Islamic views. The video’s first few minutes contain right-wing tropes about Islam. In another video also titled “Radicalization Countermeasures,” a man attacks a white woman who is wearing a dress. The man tells her “a Muslim woman doesn’t dress this way.” The woman replies “I’m not a Muslim woman,” and the man strikes her in the face and forces her into his home. read the complete article

03 Jan 2023

The US House may not have a speaker when it convenes. Here’s why

The election of the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives — usually a formality — is a nail-biter this year. Although Republicans narrowly won the House in November’s midterm elections, GOP leader Kevin McCarthy does not have an assured majority to take the gavel amid opposition from a few members of his own caucus. So when the incoming Congress meets for the first time on Tuesday, a majority may fail to materialise in support of a new House Speaker. And that, in turn, would practically make the chamber nonfunctional. Several far-right Republicans have already promised not to back McCarthy, painting him as a career politician who does not share their populist ideals. McCarthy, a California Republican, has also called on Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to resign over his handling of migration at the southern border and threatened to investigate and impeach him. Moreover, he promised to restore the committee assignments of Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who was kicked off congressional panels in 2021 over anti-Semitic and Islamophobic comments. Greene has been one of the few far-right firebrands backing his bid for the speakership. read the complete article

03 Jan 2023

Academic Freedom vs. Rights of Muslim Students

This fall, an instructor at Hamline University, in Minnesota, was teaching global art history. For one class, the instructor (who has not been named) was discussing Islamic art and included for a brief period (under 10 minutes) a screen image of Muhammad, the founder and prophet of the Muslim faith. The instructor had warned students of her plan. The image (above) shows Muhammad receiving instruction from the angel Gabriel. The original painting is in a collection at Edinburgh University Library in Scotland. The reaction to the lesson surprised the instructor and many others. One or more students complained about the image, believing (as many, but not all, Muslims believe) that showing the image was wrong. The university said that because the instructor was an adjunct, her dismissal was not a firing. Mark Berkson, chair of the Department of Religion at Hamline, tried to explain the situation in a letter to the editor of The Oracle, the student newspaper. “The professor gave students both written and verbal notifications that the image would be shown. I don’t know the nature of the conversations that followed, so I am only reflecting on one key question—Is the showing of an image of the Prophet Muhammad in an academic context necessarily an instance of Islamophobia, as has been claimed by some members of the administration?” he wrote. read the complete article

03 Jan 2023

Supporting Muslim Americans and Awareness of their Issues

The 2020 U.S. Census shows that the nation’s diversity has grown significantly. Over the past decade, we have seen more immigration to account for the growing population. With this, hate, discrimination, bias, and racism have grown. Each minority group that resides in the U.S. experiences different hate crimes. Muslim Americans have seen exponential growth since the four terrorist attacks that occurred on 9/11, especially after Donald Trump’s presidency in 2016-2020. According to an article released by NBC News, “Many have faced hostility and surveillance, mistrust and suspicion, questions about their Muslim faith and doubts over their Americanness.” Based on the PEW research center, approximately 3.85 million U.S. population is Muslim American. The American public resides in a growing divide against race, economic status, religion, gender, sexual preference, and much more. Supporting the Muslim American community is a solution to closing the systemic gaps they are placed in and educating generations to come. There are many ways to support the Muslim American community and be an ally. read the complete article

Today in Islamophobia, 03 Jan 2023 Edition

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March 13, 2025

Today in Islamophobia: In the United States, President Donald Trump has been condemned by a leading US Muslim civil rights group for seeking to use the word “Palestinian” as an insult when he attacked the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, meanwhile in the United Kingdom, a group of students at the University of Essex are facing potential expulsion after sharing a series of social media posts, including a video published by Middle East Eye marking the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, and in France, a new promotional video by a Dutch clothing brand featuring the Eiffel Tower draped in an Islamic headscarf has sparked a barrage of anti-Muslim criticism and commentary. Our recommended read of the day is by Daisy Dumas for The Guardian on how the newest Islamophobia in Australia Report indicates that there were 309 in-person incidents between early 2023 and 2024, with girls and women being the most recurring victims. This and more below:

Regions: AustraliaEuropeFrancePalestineUKUnited States

March 12, 2025

Today in Islamophobia: In the United States, CAIR, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, released its 2024 civil rights report noting a record number of complaints of discrimination and Islamophobic attacks, while the White House is defending it’s arrest of pro-Palestinian protest leader and Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, saying the Department of Homeland Security plans to arrest more protesters moving forward. Our recommended read of the day is by Imran Mulla for Middle East Eye on why Tell MAMA, an organization founded in 2012 to document Islamophobia cases in the UK, is losing its funding following accusations of severely under-reporting hate crimes. This and more below:

Regions: UKUnited States

March 11, 2025

Today in Islamophobia: In the United States, a report released by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) on Tuesday said that the 8,658 complaints regarding anti-Muslim and anti-Arab incidents last year – representing a 7.4 percent rise year on year – was the highest number since the group began compiling data in 1996, while Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University student who helped organize on-campus protests against Israel’s war on Gaza, has been seized by ICE for “espousing pro-Hamas views” according to the Trump Administration, and in Canada, the University of Toronto’s Muslim Law Students’ Association (MLSA) released a statement expressing concerns over an online Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) training course assigned to first-year law students that contained Islamophobic content. Our recommended read of the day is by Soumaya Ghannoushi for Middle East Eye on how, in his desperation for diplomatic support, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has aligned with far-right movements steeped in xenophobia and anti-Muslim hatred, who beneath their pro-Israel rhetoric still carry the same historical antisemitism. This and more below:

Regions: CanadaEuropeFranceSpainSwedenUKUnited States

March 10, 2025

Today in Islamophobia: In Australia, Meta has blamed a “technical glitch” after an individual who reported an alleged threat against a Sydney mosque on Instagram received a notification saying it had not breached the platform’s community standards on violence, meanwhile in Israel, the country’s Justice Ministry has refused to include an explicit ban on racial discrimination by real estate agents in the new code of ethics for brokers set to take effect next week, and in the U.S., a prominent Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia University’s student encampment movement was arrested on Saturday night by federal immigration authorities who claimed they were acting on a state department order to revoke his green card. Our recommended read of the day is by Lizzie Dearden for The Guardian on the UK government’s decision to cut all funding for the Islamophobia reporting group Tell MAMA, leaving the organization in jeopardy of closure only weeks after the group reported on record rates of anti-Muslim activity in the country. This and more below:

Regions: AustraliaCanadaIsraelUKUnited States

March 7, 2025

Today in Islamophobia: In the United States, the No BAN Act, introduced to Congress last month by Rep. Judy Chu and Senator Chris Coons, could stand as a challenge if passed against a potential Trump Muslim Ban 2.0, while the U.S. military is having trouble carrying out President Donald Trump’s order to hold 30,000 migrants in Guantánamo Bay, according to Defense Department Officials, and in Australia, the University of Sydney has apologized after initially telling a transgender international student she could face suspension after she allegedly wrote messages accusing the university of complicity in genocide in Gaza on campus whiteboards. Our recommended read of the day is by Jessica Buxbaum for The New Arab, who notes that the Israeli government engages with far-right parties in Europe because they both embrace Islamophobia. This and more below:

Regions: AustraliaEuropeIsraelUnited States

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