WASHINGTON听–听Discrimination and attacks against Muslims and Palestinians rose by about 70% in the US in the first half of 2024 amid heightened Islamophobia due to , the Council on American-Islamic Relations advocacy group said on Tuesday.
Human rights advocates have reported a聽聽rise in聽, anti-Palestinian bias and聽聽since the eruption in October of the Israel-Gaza war which has killed聽聽and caused a聽.
In the first six months of 2024, CAIR said it received 4,951 complaints of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian incidents, a rise of nearly 70% compared with the same period in 2023.
Most of the complaints were in the categories of immigration and asylum, employment discrimination, education discrimination and hate crimes, CAIR said.
In 2023, CAIR documented 8,061 such complaints in the whole year, including about 3,600 in the last three months after the war broke out.
Alarming US incidents in the last nine months include the 聽of a 6-year-old Palestinian-American child in Illinois, the February聽聽in Texas, the聽聽of Palestinian descent in Vermont in November and the聽聽of a 3-year-old Palestinian-American girl in May.
There have been numerous protests in the U.S., Israel’s key ally, against the war in Gaza since October. The CAIR report noted the聽聽by police and university authorities on pro-Palestinian protests and encampments on campuses.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on聽聽when Palestinian Islamist group Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about聽, according to Israeli tallies.
The Gaza health ministry says that since then Israel’s military assault on the Hamas-governed enclave聽聽nearly 40,000 Palestinians while also聽聽nearly the entire population of 2.3 million, causing a聽聽and leading to聽听迟丑补迟听.
CAIR says it compiles numbers by reviewing public statements and videos as well as reports from public calls, emails and an online complaint system. It also contacts people whose incidents are reported by media. – Reuters
