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SearchToday in Islamophobia: The Ilhan Omar controversy rages on, and the Tories are accused of fomenting Islamophobia within party ranks. Man who mowed down pedestrians near Muslim center is jailed for 5 years in the UK, while leaked chats reveal white nationalist plot to keep Steve King in office. Our recommended read of the day is by Alex Kotch, who writes on how major charities funding anti- Muslim films. This, and more, below:
United States
Major Charities Are Helping Anonymous Donors Fund Anti-Muslim Films | Recommended Read
On March 1, writer Shireen Qudosi posted a tweet alleging that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) shares the same ideology that motivated the 9/11 bombers to commit a brutal act of terrorism. Her tweet was a show of support for an Islamophobic poster of Omar, also linking her to 9/11, that was displayed at a West Virginia Republican event. Qudosi portrays herself as an independent-minded “Muslim Reformer,” but she is “national correspondent” for a nonprofit, the Clarion Project, that the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) considers an anti-Muslim hate group. read the complete article
Opinion | Want to combat hate? Stop the hazing of Ilhan Omar and start listening
The firestorm around Rep. Ilhan Omar’s recent tweets about the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and criticism of Israel has drawn attention to what language rises to the level of anti-Semitism, the shameful double standards for Muslims and people of color, and how anti-Semitism is often hypocritically used as a political bludgeon. In response, #IStandWithIlhan has trended with people, including Jews, who support the Muslim congresswoman. Omar (D-Minn), who has faced anti-Muslim hate linking her to the 9/11 terror attacks and death threats, is being unfairly demonized for her critical comments on Israel and AIPAC, especially when compared to white Republican men like Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) who recently used “$teyer” in a tweet to refer to Jewish American billionaire Tom Steyer. read the complete article
Video | What Ilhan Omar really said about Israel
Ben-Ami says "anti-Semitism is real and we can all agree with that. If we want to seriously address it, let's start at the top, let's have a discussion about the President's intolerance and his racism. Let's stop using the discussion of anti-Semitism as a way of avoiding a real discussion about policy towards Israel and Palestine, and the issues that are actually on the table about occupation and the treatment of Palestinians...Right now, there's an attempt to silence the debate." Hasan says "Do people have some good faith objections? I think they do. Has the reporting been awful? Yes, it has. Let's be clear, she hasn't said anything about Jews. She's not said one word about Jews. She talked about supporters of Israel insisting that politicians in the U.S. show allegiance to Israel, and that's kind of undeniable." read the complete article
Opinion | No. Ilhan Omar Is Not The Steve King Of The Left
On Tuesday, The Washington Post published a column by conservative blogger Henry Olsen comparing Omar to the white supremacist congressman Steve King (R-Iowa). The reaction to Omar’s comments has been loud and unequivocal, but many are concerned it’s unwarranted, and others say that she is an easy target as a black Muslim woman. In addition to being a visible, black, Muslim woman who is also a refugee, it becomes too easy for her attackers to lean into racist, Islamophobic attacks to silence her. Particularly angered by the false equivalency between Omar and King noted in the Washington Post piece, Nylah Burton, a freelance writer who recently published an op-ed titled “As a Black Jew, The Ilhan Omar Controversy Is Incredibly Exhausting,” said she wants to see the government “remove actual white nationalists in Congress and from our highest offices” and that Omar shouldn’t be removed, but in fact, supported. “It’s just so many levels of unfairness. It’s disgusting actually,” Burton said of the Omar and King comparison. “To think that Ilhan Omar is like Steve King is delusional. Steve King is a violent anti-Semite.” read the complete article
Leaked Chats Reveal White Nationalist Plot To Keep Steve King In Office
Newly leaked chat logs linked to a prominent hate group reveal that white nationalists have actively worked to keep King and his racist ideology in office — by donating to his campaign, calling members of Congress to show their support when King stumbles or by attempting to reach the congressman directly. On Wednesday, an independent media organization called Unicorn Riot released a searchable database containing what the company says are “more than 770,000 messages from chat servers associated with Identity Evropa,” a white nationalist collective. A search for King’s name in the database reveals that Identity Evropa also concerns itself with sanitizing the congressman’s image for the stated purpose of keeping white supremacy in government. Members understood that an endorsement from King could and would legitimize Identity Evropa. In chats, they noted whenever the congressman retweeted or otherwise endorsed prominent white nationalists like Faith Goldy and Lana Lokteff, and they encouraged retweets among members so that King himself might “respond” to their messages. read the complete article
United Kingdom
Opinion | The Tories are tough on Islamophobia? What a joke
The departure of these low-level activists serves only to draw attention to the Islamophobia exhibited by much more senior Tory figures, anti-Muslim prejudice that has gone entirely unpunished. Consider the case of the former foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, who mocked Muslim women wearing a burqa and saying that to wear one is “absolutely ridiculous”. The Conservative party insists that Johnson faced an internal inquiry of some kind, though the details are opaque. All we know is that Johnson was cleared. read the complete article
Baroness Warsi: I Cannot Encourage Young Muslims To Join 'Islamophobic' Tory Party
The former chairwoman of the Conservatives said people of the Muslim faith no longer have “equal worth and equal value” in her party, as she revealed two Tory associations could face legal action over Islamophobia. Asked if she would encourage young Muslims to join the party today, she said: “No, I can’t, in all conscience.” “I cannot hand on heart tell young Muslims that this party is a welcoming place for them, and that they will have equal worth and equal value here, or that the way that they are insulted will be taken as seriously as insults against people from other communities – no I can’t,” she added. read the complete article
Man who deliberately mowed people down in car near Muslim centre jailed for five years
Martin Stokes, 25, injured three people when he hurled “racist and anti-Islamic taunts” while he veered into the group outside the Hussaini Association hall in Cricklewood, northwest London, last September. One man, in his 50s, sustained a serious leg and hip injury that kept him in hospital for nearly a month, the Metropolitan Police said. read the complete article
Tories are prejudiced against Islam, says council candidate
Amir Sadjady, a small business owner, said he was the victim of “passive aggressive discrimination” when he was not selected last year for a winnable seat in two west London boroughs, and wanted to speak out in the hope the party would reform. Sadjady, 41, said he was repeatedly told to keep quiet about his concerns and that at one point Shaun Bailey, the Conservative party’s London mayoral candidate, told him to “suck it up” so that he would have a chance of getting on in the party. Bailey denies using the phrase “suck it up”. read the complete article