Category Archives: Islamophobia

Brigitte Bardot tribute at the César awards greeted with boos

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A shout of ‘racist’ could also be heard during the segment at France’s version of the Oscars

A tribute to Brigitte Bardot at the Césars, France’s version of the Oscars, on Thursday was greeted with boos. In a video clip posted on social media, boos can clearly be heard among the applause as the tributes, and a shout of “racist!” is also audible.

Bardot, who died in December aged 91, became arguably the most celebrated figure in postwar French cinema for films such as And God Created Woman and Contempt, but after quitting acting in the early 1970s her later years were marred by increasing political activity on the far right, resulting in a string of convictions for inciting racial hatred.

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‘Islamophobia is endemic,’ Mamdani says of Republicans’ push to deport him

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Two House Republicans push justice department to investigate Zohran Mamdani’s path to US citizenship

Two US House Republicans are pushing the federal justice department to investigate the path to citizenship of Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic candidate favored to win the 4 November election for New York City mayor.

Congressman Randy Fine of Florida and Andy Ogles of Tennessee – both staunch proponents of Donald Trump’s presidential administration – have been leading the push, which has been condemned by Democratic officials and Muslim civil rights groups as “racist and anti-Muslim”.

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Eleven arrested for placing pigs’ heads near French mosques and other hate crimes

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Serbian nationals also accused by Serbian police of defacing Jewish sites, as French officials investigate foreign interference

Serbian police have arrested 11 people, accusing them of “inciting hatred” in France and Germany, and linking them to acts that include placing pigs’ heads near mosques and defacing Jewish sites.

The arrests came days after French prosecutors said foreign interference was probably to blame for a spate of provocative acts that had targeted Jewish and Muslim sites in France in recent years, as tensions run high over the war in Gaza. French officials have previously said they were investigating Russia’s role in destabilising operations that have stoked social tensions and sown division in France.

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‘I refuse to be defined by fascism’: daughter of murder victim speaks after death of neo-Nazi killer in prison

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After the man who killed her father is found dead in his cell, Maz Saleem reflects on living with loss and choosing not to hate

Neo-Nazi murderer and bomber Pavlo Lapshyn did not get to serve out the 40-year term of his sentence. He was found dead in his cell at Wakefield prison on Tuesday, 12 years after being jailed. The circumstances of his death have not yet been publicly confirmed.

The Ukrainian national was 37. He was convicted at the Old Bailey in October 2013 of murdering Muslim man Mohammed Saleem, 82, in April of that year.

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Outrage as Spanish town bans Muslim religious festivals from public spaces

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Conservative People’s party in Jumilla votes to stop civic centres and gyms being used for activities ‘alien to our identity’

A local authority in south-east Spain has banned Muslims from using public facilities such as civic centres and gyms to celebrate the religious festivals Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, and Eid al-Adha.

The ban in Jumilla, in Murcia, is a first in Spain. It was introduced by the conservative People’s party (PP) and passed with the abstention of the far-right Vox party and the opposition of local leftwing parties.

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Landlord who stabbed Palestinian American boy to death dies in prison

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Joseph Czuba sentenced to 53 years for murder of Wadee Alfayoumi and wounding of mother in October 2023

A landlord jailed for decades after he attacked a Palestinian American boy and his mother has died.

Three months ago, Joseph Czuba was sentenced to 53 years behind bars for the attack. He was found guilty in February of murder, attempted murder and hate-crime charges in the death of Wadee Alfayoumi and the wounding of the boy’s mother, Hanan Shaheen.

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Push to end antisemitism is welcome but envoy’s plan raises concerns, Australia’s race commissioner warns

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Giridharan Sivaraman says he hopes to meet Jillian Segal to discuss her proposals and their implications for fundamental rights and freedoms

Australia’s race discrimination commissioner has warned there is limited detail in how Jillian Segal’s plan to combat antisemitism would be implemented, and said he would work with her to ensure it does not restrict fundamental rights and freedoms.

Giridharan Sivaraman has responded to the antisemitism envoy’s 20-page plan, released last Thursday, which made a range of recommendations, including withholding government funding from universities that “facilitate, enable or fail to act against antisemitism” and monitoring media organisations “to avoid accepting false or distorted narratives”.

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‘We are in a dangerous place’: British Muslims on the fallout from 7/7 attack 20 years on

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Many feel counter-terrorism policies and brazen Islamophobia have increased hostility and isolation experience by community

For many in the British Muslim community, the tragedy of 7 July 2005 lives long in the memory. The bombings sent shockwaves through the nation but also marked a turning point that left many grappling with grief, fear and a new scrutiny of their identity.

Twenty years on, feelings of suspicion, isolation and hostility experienced in the aftermath of the attacks have, for some, only worsened after decades of UK counter-terrorism policies, and a political landscape they say has allowed Islamophobia to flourish.

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Muslim groups reject push for new Islamophobia definition at Australian universities

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Groups call for a unified anti-racism standard and say separate definition would ‘shield’ universities from criticism of the antisemitism definition

A coalition of Muslim and Palestinian organisations have rejected a push by universities to adopt a new definition of Islamophobia, arguing it would “shield” the institutions from criticism of their contentious new antisemitism definition, and that a unified standard that rejects all racism is what is needed.

Last month, Australia’s universities confirmed they would unilaterally enforce a new definition of antisemitism on campuses after an inquiry recommended higher education providers “closely align” with the contentious International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition.

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Police to block ‘intimidating’ protests near places of worship, says Home Office

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Yvette Cooper says change needed in England and Wales after concerns over marches near synagogues and mosques

The government plans to give police in England and Wales powers to change the route or timing of protest marches planned outside places of worship in order to give greater protection against intimidation.

The government is to include the powers in an amendment to the crime and policing bill after concerns were raised about protests near synagogues and mosques.

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Labor was warned its perceived ‘one-sided’ Israel support over Gaza raised social cohesion concerns

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Exclusive: Department told minister in November 2023 Palestinian and Muslim communities were ‘extremely angry, hurt and betrayed’

The home affairs department warned the government as early as November 2023 that its perceived one-sidedness in support of Israel during the Gaza conflict left Palestinian and Muslim Australians feeling “extremely angry” and “betrayed” , as well as concern about social cohesion, documents reveal.

A November 2023 briefing document to the then immigration minister, Andrew Giles, was obtained by Guardian Australia under freedom of information laws. It discussed “social cohesion measures”, including a $25m package announced in October 2023 to strengthen resilience and improve support to Australian Palestinian, Muslim and other communities in Australia after the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent war waged by Israel in Gaza. A total of $52.8m had been approved for social cohesion measures relating to the conflict, according to the document.

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Islamophobia charity Tell Mama facing closure after funding pulled by government

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Police sources raise alarm over cut as anti-Muslim hate incidents in Britain hit record high

The government is cutting all funding for the Islamophobia reporting service Tell Mama, leaving it facing closure weeks after it revealed a record number of anti-Muslim hate incidents in Britain.

Since its foundation in 2012, Tell Mama has been wholly funded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to run its reporting service, which received almost 11,000 reports in 2023-4, and support victims of Islamophobia.

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Sayeeda Warsi and Mishal Husain back new lobby group for British Muslims

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British Muslim Network aims to bring together experts to identify challenges the community faces to policymakers

Prominent British Muslims in politics, media, business and sport have come together to influence government policy on behalf of 4 million British Muslims.

The minister for faith Wajid Khan, the Tory MP and deputy speaker Nusrat Ghani, the former Conservative party chair Sayeeda Warsi, the broadcaster Mishal Husain, the ex-England cricketer Azeem Rafiq and the anti-racism group Hope Not Hate are backing the newly formed British Muslim Network (BMN).

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Melbourne woman charged over two alleged Islamophobic attacks at shopping centre

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Charges laid after two Muslim women were allegedly attacked at an Epping shopping centre on Thursday

A woman will face court charged over allegedly Islamophobic attacks on two women at a shopping centre, as one of the victims says she remains terrified.

The 31-year-old Pascoe Vale woman is accused of assaulting a pregnant 30-year-old Muslim woman inside an Epping shopping complex in Melbourne’s north on Thursday, before allegedly attacking 26-year-old Ealaf Al-Easawi about 10 minutes later.

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Police investigate potential Islamophobic assaults at Melbourne shopping centre

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Two women in hijabs allegedly attacked in Epping last week while racist graffiti reported in western Sydney

Police are investigating if two alleged assaults in Melbourne were Islamophobic incidents after women in hijabs were attacked during the day.

Victoria police said two women, a 30-year-old from Lalor and a 26-year-old from Wollert, were allegedly attacked by the same assailant at Epping shopping centre on High Street between 1.10pm and 1.20pm on Thursday.

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Counter-terrorism police take up investigation of swastika attack at Sydney synagogue

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Vandals also started a fire in Newtown that could have had deadly consequences, commissioner says

Counter-terrorism police have taken over the investigation of a swastika vandalism attack at a Sydney synagogue as the police commissioner and premier call on the public to help catch the perpetrators.

Jewish leaders condemned the latest antisemitic attack, in which red swastikas were spray-painted across the front wall of Newtown synagogue in Sydney’s inner west by a male and female about 4.30am on Saturday.

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Police forces report sharp rise in religious hate crimes across UK

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Data shows spikes in antisemitic and Islamophobic offences after outbreak of Middle East conflict and Southport attack

Some of the UK’s largest police forces have reported increases in religious hate crimes in the past 18 months, figures reveal, with the number of incidents rising after the start of the Hamas-Israel conflict in autumn 2023 and again after the Southport attacks in England this summer.

Forces including Greater Manchester, West Midlands and the Metropolitan police recorded sharp increases in antisemitic offences in the weeks after the outbreak of the conflict in the Middle East in October last year.

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Trump Pentagon pick Pete Hegseth’s books foreground anti-Muslim rhetoric

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Hegseth’s conspiracy theory- and falsehood-laden book American Crusade depicts Islam as historic enemy of west

Donald Trump’s defense secretary pick Pete Hegseth, who has the crusader motto “deus vult” tattooed on his arm, has put bigoted anti-Muslim rhetoric at the center of several of his published books, according to a Guardian review of the materials.

Hegseth, especially in 2020’s American Crusade, depicts Islam as a natural, historic enemy of the west; presents distorted versions of Muslim doctrine in “great replacement”-style racist conspiracy theories; treats leftists and Muslims as bound together in their efforts to subvert the US; and idolises medieval crusaders.

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Ex-official exits running for Trump team over Sebastian Gorka appointment

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Michael Anton, national security official in first Trump term, reportedly removed name from contention over feud

A frontrunner to be deputy national security adviser in Donald Trump’s administration reportedly withdrew from the running after learning that he would have to work with Sebastian Gorka, the president-elect’s choice as counter-terrorism adviser.

Michael Anton, a conservative speech writer and national security official in Trump’s first presidency, removed his name from contention over Gorka’s appointment against a backdrop of acrimonious past relations between the pair, the Washington Post reported.

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Muslims face ‘bleak and dystopian’ climate in UK, says head of thinktank

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Shabna Begum says racist riots will return if Islamophobia continues to be ‘an acceptable currency’ in politics

Islamophobia has become “brutally divisive” in the UK and failure to challenge its root causes will lead to more racist riots, the head of the UK’s leading race equality thinktank has said.

Shabna Begum, who became the chief executive of the Runnymede Trust earlier this year, said the country was entering a new phase in how it talks about Muslims.

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