Cair reports that the war in Gaza stimulated Islamophobia, which led to 8,658 discrimination complaints recorded in 2024.
Discrimination and attacks against U.S. Muslims and Arabs won new records in 2024 amid the Israel-Gaza War, advocacy groups report.
A report released Tuesday by the Council on US and Islamic Relations (CAIR) said 8,658 complaints about anti-Muslim and anti-Arab cases last year (an increase of 7.4% year-on-year) were the highest since 1996 when data began compiling.
Complaints regarding employment discrimination were the most common, at 15.4% of the total. Immigration and asylum complaints accounted for 14.8%, education 9.8%, and hate crime 7.5%.
Rights advocates highlight the rise in Islamophobia, anti-Arab bias and anti-Semitism as the Hamas attack in October 2023 launched a devastating onslaught in Gaza.
“For the second year in a row, the US-backed massacre in Gaza has driven a wave of Islamophobia in the United States,” Kea said.
Israel has denied genocide and charges of war crimes.
Last month, 18 months ago, he was found guilty of a hate crime with fatal stabbing wounds of a 6-year-old Palestinian boy.
Other surprising incidents since late 2023 include the owner’s death of a 3-year-old Palestinian American girl in Texas, the stab wounds of a Palestinian American in Texas, the assault of a Muslim man in New York and the shooting of two Israeli visitors.
University protest crackdown
Cair also noted the crackdown on pro-Palestin protests on university campuses.
Protesters have been demanding for months an end to US support for Israel. Until the summer of 2024, classes were cancelled, university administrators resigned, student protesters were suspended and arrested.
Notable incidents include police violent arrests of Columbia University protesters and mob attacks on pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of California, Los Angeles.
President Donald Trump called for a step up in action against the protest.
Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian graduate student who served as a negotiator between Palestinian protesters and Columbia University in the New York administration, was arrested this week by immigrant staff despite holding a green card for permanent residency.
Trump wrote on social media that Halil was “many first arrests.”
“We know that Columbia and other universities have more students at other universities that are engaged in terrorist, anti-Semitism, and anti-American activities. The Trump administration will not tolerate that,” he added.
The executive director of Cair New York Afaf Nasher denounced the arrest as a “shocking escalation” that “sets dangerous precedents and threatens all civil liberties.”
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