Anti-Muslim incidents jump in US amid Israel-Gaza war

8:08 pm on 29 January 2024

By Kanishka Singh for Reuters

This undated handout photo provided by the Institute for Middle East Understanding shows Hisham Awartani, Tahseen Ali, and Kenan Abdulhamid, who were shot on their way to a family dinner. Three university students of Palestinian descent were wounded on November 25, 2023, in a shooting in the northeastern US city of Burlington, Vermont, in what police said appeared to be a "hate-motivated crime." The shooter, who is still on the loose, was described by police as "a white man with a handgun." (Photo by HANDOUT / Institute for Middle East Understanding / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / Institute for Middle East Understanding" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Three university students of Palestinian descent were shot and injured in Vermont on 25 November last year in what police called a "hate-motivated crime." Photo: HANDOUT (Institute for Middle East Understanding / AFP)

Complaints of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian discrimination and hate in the US rose by about 180 percent in the three months after 7 October, following Hamas' attack on Israel and Israel's subsequent assault on Hamas-governed Gaza, an advocacy group says.

Why is it important?

Rights advocates have noted a rise in Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian bias in the US and elsewhere since the eruption of war in the Middle East. Among incidents in the US that raised alarm were a November shooting in Vermont where three students of Palestinian descent were shot and the fatal stabbing of a six-year-old Palestinian American child in Illinois in October.

By the numbers

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said on Monday it has received 3578 complaints during the last three months of 2023, amid what it called "an ongoing wave of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian hate".

The figure is a 178 percent rise from complaints in the same period from a year earlier.

Complaints of employment discrimination led the list with 662 instances; hate crimes and hate incidents were reported 472 times; and education discrimination 448 times, the organisation said.

Earlier this month, the Anti-Defamation League said that in the three months after 7 October, US anti-semitic incidents rose by 360 percent compared to the prior year.

US security alerts

The US government recently issued security guidance for faith-based communities amid heightened anti-semitism and Islamophobia since the 7 October attack on Israel by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas that killed 1200, and Israel's subsequent military retaliation in Gaza that the local health ministry says has killed over 26,000 Palestinians or more than 1 percent of Gaza's 2.3 million population.

The US Justice Department is monitoring rising threats against Jews and Muslims amid the conflict. President Joe Biden has condemned anti-semitism and Islamophobia.

- Reuters