Discrimination and attacks against American Muslims and Arabs increased by 7.4% in 2024, driven by rising Islamophobia linked to US ally Israel’s war in Gaza and the ensuing campus protests, a Muslim advocacy group reported on Tuesday.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) recorded 8,658 anti-Muslim and anti-Arab complaints in 2024, the highest number since it began tracking such incidents in 1996.
The most common complaints involved employment discrimination (15.4%), immigration and asylum issues (14.8%), education discrimination (9.8%), and hate crimes (7.5%), according to CAIR’s report.
Rights advocates have noted an increase in Islamophobia, anti-Arab bias, and antisemitism since Israel launched its offensive in Gaza following a deadly Hamas attack in October 2023.
The report also highlights police and university crackdowns on pro-Palestinian protests and encampments on college campuses. Demonstrators have called for an end to US support for Israel, and at the height of campus protests in the summer of 2024, some universities canceled classes, administrators resigned, and student protesters were suspended or arrested.
Human rights and free speech groups criticised the crackdown, which university officials described as disruptive. Notable incidents include violent arrests of protesters at Columbia University and a mob attack on pro-Palestinian demonstrators at the University of California, Los Angeles.
“For the second year in a row, the US-backed Gaza genocide drove a wave of Islamophobia in the United States,” CAIR stated. Israel denies accusations of genocide and war crimes.
Last month, an Illinois jury convicted a man of a hate crime for the October 2023 fatal stabbing of a 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy.
Other incidents since late 2023 include an attempted drowning of a 3-year-old Palestinian-American girl in Texas, the stabbing of a Palestinian-American man in Texas, the beating of a Muslim man in New York, and the shooting of two Israeli visitors in Florida by a suspect who mistakenly believed they were Palestinian.
In recent days, the US government has faced criticism from rights advocates over the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian graduate student and prominent figure in pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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