Anti-Muslim hate has increased since 7-10

[EasterIssland]

Out of the 901 off-line cases of anti-Muslim hate, there were 535 reports of abusive behaviour, 77 threats, 83 assaults, 79 acts of vandalism, 69 cases of discrimination, 39 acts of hate speech and 19 examples of anti-Muslim literature.

https://news.sky.com/story/335-rise-in-anti-muslim-hate-cases-in-uk-since-hamass-attack-on-7-october-13078030?dcmp=snt-sf-twitter

The stats are interesting to analyse.

The main charity tracking antisemitism Community Security Trust (CST) records reports of anti-Jewish hate incidents 4,103 in 2023 with 31% of these (approx 1300) online. Two-thirds of incidents happened on or after the Hamas attacks (2700)
-Figures from CST

2,010 cases of anti Muslim hate incidents have been recorded post October 7th 2023, 901 occurred offline with 1,109 online cases. Before October 7th there were 310 online, 290 online in 2023 (so 600 anti Muslim hate incidents) 2,610 overall.
-Figures from TellMama

October 7th has had a major increase of recorded hate incidents for both Jewish and Muslim people - 2,700 (CST) and 2,010 (TellMama) and the fast rising method as a vehicle for delivering a hate incidents has been online for both.

There's no need to minimise either.

The UK government are not supporting ‘without criticism’. They have acknowledged the right of Israel to defend its citizens against terrorist attacks, as is right, they haven’t at any point said that such defence can be done with impunity.

The marches have been well supported by police, in the last couple of days ‘from the river to the sea’ was emblazoned on Big Ben. Let’s not pretend the government have used this conflict as an opportunity to encourage and endorse racist sentiments against Muslims, falsehoods like that just further muddy the water and makes any meaningful debate much more difficult.

Not all MP’s agree on how this conflict should be handled, it’s a very divisive issue. There are also concerns regarding threats against parliamentary members which seems to be impacting parliamentary processes and leading to more conflict within parliament itself.

Also, on the point of MP's being worried about being victims of terrorist attacks. Terrorists come in many forms, as well they should know.

I would like to see more statements from MPs that encourage tolerance and respectful behaviour.

I would like to see them (on the whole) publicly comment on the racist and hateful discourse coming from members of the Israeli government. I imagine that if these comments were being made about our ‘friends’ by a different country they wouldn’t be so quiet.

I will amend my comment to make it specific to them not saying anything about this. There has been more criticism of the Israeli approach recently and I recognise that.

Edit - it seems I can only edit my last post, which is this one!

I was just reading this post about the hate she’s receiving Zarah Sultana and also includes the islamophobic comments sunak did few weeks ago

https://twitter.com/zarahsultana/status/1761008199044329607

Thanks for this thread @EasterIssland much needed. Disappointing but not surprising to see the almost immediate minimization, casual Islamophobia and racism that it has prompted.

I’ve seen so many similar incidents to this reported, particularly in the US. People who are demonstrably Muslim (mostly hijabi women) protesting for a ceasefire getting abused and harassed. These people actually getting abused in a place of worship which should be a safe space.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3sbLHCNsT/?igsh=aHpraWsyNHhvbDg3

@PeasfullPerson that's one of my big issues with Ed Husain. It's hard to support someone as a self-proclaimed standard-bearer for liberal Muslims when he was supportive of a widely criticised initiative that disproportionately targets Muslims, and to my knowledge hasn't actually made any public retraction of that support.

100%

The British press, particularly the tabloids, really promote casual Islamophobia which in turn has made it more acceptable for regular people to do the same. Case in point some of the responses on this thread. This recent interview with the former political editor of the Sun Trevor Kavanagh is just an example. This man was in charge of political commentary in one of the most widely read British newspapers (if you can count a tabloid as ‘news’). In this interview they are discussing Labour’s decision to drop Azhar Ali from the by-election for his inappropriate statements about Israel. Kavanagh then says:

“By the very definition of Islam, by the very definition of being a Muslim voter, you’re going to be anti-Jewish.”

From my perspective, the issue wasn’t so much that he said this (he’s a known Islamophobe who previously wrote a column asking how Britain should “handle the Muslim problem” - language which prompted several complaints including by the Board of Deputies of British Jews), it was the fact what he said was completely unchecked and unchallenged by the two other interviewers. It did not even cross their minds to question the validity or appropriateness of this statement. That’s the saddest thing, sweeping and offensive generalizations/ assumptions about the Muslim community as a whole are completely acceptable these days.

https://www.mediaite.com/uk/backlash-after-ex-sun-editor-tells-talktv-that-by-definition-being-muslim-means-being-anti-jewish/amp/

That’s appalling @Desertrose2023 Looks like different rules for different people.

One persons’ “Islamophobia” is another persons’ “reasonable criticism of a religion which promotes regressive attitudes and behaviour” so it’s hard to understand what exactly are anti Muslim sentiments- do you actually mean anti Islam sentiments? And why is it such a problem for people to criticise a religion ?

For me, reasonable criticism and debate involves a degree of respect and decency, while seeking to refrain from personal attacks. For example, I would disagree with your opinion that Islam promotes regressive attitudes and behaviour, while simultaneously recognising your right to hold that opinion and your right as a human being to not be verbally or physically abused for holding that opinion. If we were to (on a thread about that) be discussing it, I would seek to try to understand where your opinion came from and hopefully be able to share my own perspectives.

Examples of what I think probably shouldn't be normalised as "reasonable criticism" (and should instead be classed as Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim hate) include but are not limited to...

Being spat at in the street.
Being physically assaulted.
Rape threats.
People threatening my living child and being happy about the fact that one of my children is dead.
Death threats.
People refusing to serve me in shops because "we don't serve terrorists".
Discrimination in healthcare.
Discrimination in employment.
Guilt by association, the near-constant absence of the same levels of consideration and empathy that other people are able to expect.
Trying to trick people into eating food that's contrary to their beliefs.
Lack of the respect afforded to other minority groups.

There are many micro-aggressions experienced by Muslim people every day. Every day, the media we see tells us that we are not welcome and not safe here. Every day, people tell us through their words, actions and inaction that we are not welcome and not safe. That's not "reasonable criticism".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68388579

Very disappointed to read of his behaviour this morning. This is exactly the kind of words that MPs should be avoiding. Please set us a better example.

Also, as Zarah Sultana said the protests represent a majority view.

And actually the police do appear to be doing their job. We can’t be a democracy only when it suits the people in power.

Let’s see what Rishi Sunak says, does he want a cohesive or divided society? And how will this impact voting?

Let’s see what Rishi Sunak says, does he want a cohesive or divided society? And how will this impact voting?
Sunak won't say anything, this is a deliberate concerted effort to pivot the blame onto so called "Islamists".

They've lost the battle of Public opinion regarding the War in Gaza, so they've got to paint Palestinian supporters as extremists as an attempt to justify the plausible atrocities British weapons are assisting in committing.

Let's not even use the word Islamaphobic that's too soft, it's straight up racist and supremacist.
The Tories are betting on weaponising a group of disgruntled, "the country was so much better in my day...", Tommy Robinson supporting sorts. Culture wars at 1000%, Tory supporting social media accounts all talking about Islamists
The Safety of innocent Muslims be damned. It's an act of desperation and callousness that will backfire.

I think there’s no doubt that Rishi Sunak wants a divided Country (as do quite a few Tory politicians), it’s the old divide and rule tactic.

I think many politicians (not only Sunak) wants this

Insightful comments. His response or lack of one will tell us everything we need to know.

@etmoiandme Thanks for this, the looks on the presenters faces are a doozy. The type of environment that they're trying to foster will make it unsafe for all minorities. I'm old enough to remember when minorities used to be chased and beaten up whilst being called the P. Word, N. word or the K. word. Reporting it to the police was useless as they often would repeat the same slurs, so minorities would often remain quiet.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68392621

Good to hear, pleased that this has happened, but still no comments on it from Rishi Sunak as far as I’m aware.

Apparently Lee Anderson wouldn’t have lost the whip if he had apologised. There is still denial among Tory MPs and Sunak that these comments were islamophobic. I wonder what an actual islamophobic comment would be? The worrying thing is that islamophobia is so normalised it’s not even recognised as such when it’s so blatantly obvious.

And two MPs (Tory) have refused to acknowledge it was racist. Tories seem intent on Islamophobia being their election strategy.