US President Joe Biden condemned on Friday what he known as an unpleasant resurgence of Islamophobia because the Oct. 7 begin of the Israel-Gaza conflict.
He issued an announcement on the Worldwide Day to Fight Islamophobia, established in 2022 by the United Nations on March 15, the anniversary of the 2019 Christchuch, New Zealand, mosque shootings by which 51 individuals have been killed throughout Friday prayers.
Human rights advocates have cited an increase in Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian bias and antisemitism within the US and elsewhere.
US incidents that raised alarm embody the deadly October stabbing of 6-year-old Palestinian American Wadea Al-Fayoume in Illinois, the November capturing of three college students of Palestinian descent in Vermont, and the February stabbing of a Palestinian American man in Texas.
‘Wave’ of hate
The Council on American-Islamic Relations advocacy group says it obtained 3,578 complaints over the last three months of 2023, amid what it known as “an ongoing wave of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian hate.” The determine was a 178% rise from complaints about anti-Muslim incidents in the identical interval from a yr earlier.
“We acknowledge the violence and hate that Muslims worldwide too typically face due to their spiritual beliefs – and the ugly resurgence of Islamophobia within the wake of the devastating conflict in Gaza,” Biden stated in an announcement launched by the White Home.
“Islamophobia has no place in our nation. But Muslims in the USA steadily endure baseless fearmongering, blatant discrimination, harassment, and violence in the midst of their on a regular basis lives,” Biden stated.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken additionally condemned anti-Muslim hate and violence.
Rights teams have in contrast the resurgence of Islamophobia since Oct. 7 to the stigma confronted by Muslims after the Sept. 11, 2001, assaults.
Palestinian terrorist Hamas fighters attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 individuals.
