Attacks on American Muslims increased by 56% compared to 2022 (French)
Data published by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) on Tuesday revealed that attacks on Muslims and Palestinians in the United States and discrimination against them reached record levels in 2023, driven by a rise in Islamophobia and prejudice coinciding with the Israeli war that Israel has been waging on the Gaza Strip since October 7. Last October.
According to the Council’s data, the total number of complaints reporting attacks on Muslims or Arabs of Palestinian origin in America reached 8,061 complaints last year, representing an increase of 56% over the previous year, 2022.
The aforementioned number is the highest since the Council began monitoring and documenting violations against Muslims and Arabs in the United States 30 years ago.
The Council said that about 3,600 of these violations occurred in the last three months of 2023, coinciding with the war on the Gaza Strip.
The Council’s report stated that the year 2023 witnessed an escalation in feelings of hatred towards Muslims, after witnessing a decline in 2022.
He said that the average complaints regarding violations against Muslims and Arabs during the first nine months of 2023 did not exceed 500 per month, but the number jumped to 1,200 per month in the last quarter of the same year.
The Council explained that “the main driving force behind this wave of escalating Islamophobia was the escalation of violence in Israel and Palestine in October 2023.”
Human rights defenders have monitored the escalation of hostility to Islam, anti-Palestinian bias, and anti-Semitism since the outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip.
Incidents recorded in the United States linked to hatred of Muslims included a stabbing incident last October in the state of Illinois that claimed the life of an American child of Palestinian origin named Wadih Al-Fayoumi, who was no more than 6 years old, an incident that shook American society.
It also included the shooting of three students of Palestinian origin in Vermont last November, and the stabbing attack on an American man of Palestinian origin in Texas last February.
Source: Reuters