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Islamophobia in US hit record high in 2023 due to Israel's war on Gaza

An advocacy group reports a 56 percent increase in anti-Muslim complaints in 2023 compared to the previous year, reaching the highest level in the US in nearly three decades.

AP

Mourners hold signs for Wadea Al-Fayoume during a vigil at Prairie Activity and Recreation centre in Plainfield, Ill, late Tuesday, October 17, 2023. / Photo: AP

Reported discrimination and attacks against Muslims and Palestinians have reached a record high in the US in 2023, driven by rising Islamophobia and bias as Israel's war on Gaza raged late in the year, data from an advocacy group shows.

Complaints totalled 8,061 in 2023, a 56 percent rise from the year before and the highest since the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) began records nearly 30 years ago. About 3,600 of those incidents occurred from October to December, CAIR said.

Human rights advocates have similarly reported a global rise in Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian bias and antisemitism since the latest eruption of conflict in the Middle East.

US incidents have included the fatal October stabbing of six-year-old Palestinian American Wadea Al-Fayoume in Illinois, the November shooting of three students of Palestinian descent in Vermont and the February stabbing of a Palestinian American man in Texas.

According to the CAIR report, there was a resurgence of anti-Muslim hate in 2023. Incidents averaged around 500 per month in the first nine months but jumped to nearly 1,200 per month in the final quarter.

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"The primary force behind this wave of heightened Islamophobia was the escalation of violence in Israel and Palestine in October 2023," the report said.

The most numerous complaints in 2023 were in the categories of immigration and asylum, employment discrimination, hate crimes and education discrimination, CAIR said.

Hamas's incursion into Israel on October 7, killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed over 32,000 people, according to the local health ministry, displaced nearly all of its 2.3 million population, put the densely populated Palestinian enclave on the brink of starvation and famine, and led to genocide allegations that Israel denies.

CAIR said it compiled the numbers by reviewing public statements and videos as well as reports from public calls, emails and an online complaint system. It contacted people whose incidents were reported in the media.