Discrimination and attacks against Muslims and Palestinians rose about 70% in the US in the first half of 2024 due to increased Islamophobia due to Israel’s war in Gaza, the advocacy group Council on American-Islamic Relations said on Tuesday.
Human rights advocates report a global rise in Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian bias and anti-Semitism since the October eruption of war between Israel and Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of people and caused a humanitarian crisis.
In the first six months of 2024, CAIR said it received 4,951 complaints about anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian incidents, an increase of nearly 70% compared to the same period in 2023.
In 2023, CAIR documented 8,061 such complaints for the entire year, including about 3,600 in the last three months after the outbreak of war.
The shooting of three students, a new Palestinian-American card opening in Vermont in November, and an attempt to the drowning of a 3-year-old Palestinian-American girl in May.
Since October, there have been numerous protests against the war in Gaza in the US, a key ally of Israel. The CAIR report noted police and university authorities cracking down on pro-Palestinian protests and encampments on campuses.
The latest bloodbath in the decade-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on October 7 when the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli records.
Gaza’s health ministry says that since then, an Israeli military assault on the Hamas-controlled enclave has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians while displacing nearly all of its 2.3 million residents, causing a hunger crisis and leading to accusations of genocide, which Israel denies.
CAIR says it compiles the 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 have been reported by the media.
