Religious hate surges in the United States
On October 7, 2023, Hamas, an Islamic Palestinian militant group, attacked Israel, killing around 1,200 Israelis and taking around another 200 hostage. In response, Israel invaded the Gaza Strip, the region Hamas is based out of, with an estimated 38,000 Palestinians dying in the process. This has led to the conclusion for many that Israel is committing genocide in the Strip.
Regardless of one’s beliefs on this claim, countless innocent lives have been lost in the conflict.
This war has had reverberations globally, one of which has been a rise in both Islamophobia and Antisemitism, or prejudice against Muslims (followers of the Islamic religion) and Jews (members of the Jewish ethnoreligious group), respectively, with these groups being the majority of religions in Palestine and Israel.
According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), there was a 178 percent increase in Islamophobic incidents from October 7 to the end of 2023. Islamophobia is often rooted in fears of Muslim terrorism, and it has increased in the aftermath of terrorist attacks, such as after 9/11 in 2001. The October 7th attack has created a similar increase, with it playing into the previously mentioned fears. It is important to note that the vast majority of Muslims do not support terrorism and that judging or using violence against Muslims for the actions of extremist groups like Hamas is reprehensible.
This surge of Islamophobia has manifested itself in cruel incidents: a 6 year old Palestinian-American boy was stabbed 26 times and killed by his family’s landlord. The landlord’s justification rested on the premise that he was “concerned” that the boy’s family would harm him, with this concern being motivated by the family’s Palestinian ethnicity. In another incident, three Palestinian-American college students were shot by a man simply because they were wearing a keffiyeh, a head scarf that has been used as a symbol of Palestinian national identity.
The corresponding increase in Antisemitism has also been sharp, with it surging by 361 percent in the 3 month period after October 7th. Claims of pro-Israel bias in the media have coresponded with the long held falsehood that Jews control the media, and certain antisemitic actors have used the high death toll in Gaza to invoke the blood libel (the falsehood that Jews are bloodthirsty towards non-Jews), which evolved from the historical belief that Jews used the blood of Christans to make matzah, a traditional Jewish bread replacement. This, similar to the rise of Islamophobia, has led to horrifying incidents of violence against Jews. A politically active leader in a Michigan synagogue was stabbed to death in what was likely a hate crime. As well, a 69 year old Jewish man at a pro-Israel protest was killed by pro-Palestinan protestors.
As a result of these surges in hate, there have been governmental efforts to address both. Bills have been introduced and passed in many states, including Georgia, South Dakota, and Indiana, in order to expand the definition of Antisemitism to include certain criticisms of Israel. The House of Representatives passed a bill that would change the definition of Antisemitism to match the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition, which would allow the Department of Education to use anti-discrimination laws to enforce these new guidelines. This bill attracted criticism from the American Civil Liberties Union, which argued that antisemitic discrimination was already covered under federal law, and that this bill would make it harder for students to criticize the Israeli government. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz also criticized the bill as it would classify the belief that the Jews crucified Jesus as antisemitic, with them arguing that the belief was a part of the gospel.
In regards to Islamophobia, the White House instituted a national strategy to combat Islamophobia, similar to one instituted for Antisemitism prior to the October 7th attack. As part of the strategy, federal agencies have issued guidelines and policies to combat Islamophobia, and Joe Biden became the first US president to recognize the International Day to Confront Islamophobia.
The White House has also taken steps that simultaneously combat both forms of hate, such as increasing funding for the Security Grant Program, which helps houses of worship, including mosques (Muslim houses of worship) and synagogues (Jewish houses of worship), with security needs. The White House also launched Artists for Understanding, an initiative that brings together people who seek to use arts and humanities to combat all forms of hate.
At the end of the day, regardless of one’s personal beliefs or opinions on the Israel-Palestine conflict, hatred against any group of people is intolerable and unjust, and one can only hope for the surges in Islamophobia and Antisemitism to decrease and for lasting peace in the Middle East.
Sources:
Allison, Ismail. “New Data Shows the End of 2023 Was a ‘relentless’ Wave of Bias, Community Resilience Is ‘Impressive.’” CAIR, 29 Jan. 2024, www.cair.com/press_releases/cair-new-data-shows-the-end-of-2023-was-a-relentless-wave-of-bias-community-resilience-is-impressive/#:~:text=The%20Council%20on%20American%2DIslamic,Muslim%20and%20anti%2DPalestinian%20hate.
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“Fact Sheet: Biden-Harris Administration Takes Action to Counter Islamophobia.” The White House, The United States Government, 17 June 2024, www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/06/16/fact-sheet-biden-%E2%81%A0harris-administration-takes-action-to-counter-islamophobia/.
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Mulvihill, Geoff. “There’s a Wave of New Bills to Define Antisemitism. in These 3 States, They Could Become Law.” AP News, AP News, 30 Jan. 2024, apnews.com/article/antisemitism-definition-states-law-zionism-indiana-georgia-871571f3b392455b1479827bdf1f5ea7#.
“U.S. Antisemitic Incidents Skyrocketed 360% in Aftermath of Attack in Israel, According to Latest ADL Data.” Anti-Defamation League, 9 Jan. 2024, www.adl.org/resources/press-release/us-antisemitic-incidents-skyrocketed-360-aftermath-attack-israel-according.
Yan, Holly, et al. “A 6-Year-Old Palestinian-American Was Stabbed 26 Times for Being Muslim, Police Say. His Mom Couldn’t Go to His Funeral Because She Was Stabbed, Too.” CNN, Cable News Network, 17 Oct. 2023, www.cnn.com/2023/10/16/us/chicago-muslim-boy-stabbing-investigation/index.html.
