Islamophobia and Anti-Arab Discrimination Surge in the U.S. Amid Gaza War Fallout
CAIR reports a 7.4% rise in anti-Muslim and anti-Arab incidents in 2024, linking the increase to Israel’s war on Gaza and crackdowns on pro-Palestinian protests across U.S. campuses.
Watan-The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) reported on Tuesday that discrimination and attacks against Muslim and Arab Americans surged by 7.4% in 2024. The increase was attributed to rising Islamophobia fueled by Israel’s aggression in Gaza and the subsequent protests on U.S. college campuses.
CAIR recorded 8,658 complaints in 2024, the highest number since it began publishing data in 1996. The majority of complaints fell into categories such as employment discrimination (15.4%), immigration and asylum issues (14.8%), education-related discrimination (9.8%), and hate crimes (7.5%).
Human rights advocates have highlighted a rise in Islamophobia, anti-Arab bias, and antisemitism since the start of Israel’s military operations in Gaza following Hamas’ attack in October 2023.
Crackdown on Pro-Palestinian Protests Sparks Outrage in the U.S.
The report details police and security crackdowns on pro-Palestinian protests and sit-ins at universities. Protesters have been calling for an end to U.S. support for Israel for months. At the height of campus demonstrations in the summer of 2024, lectures were canceled, university officials resigned, and protesting students were banned from attending classes or arrested.
Human rights and free speech advocates condemned the crackdown on protests, which university officials described as disruptive. Major incidents included violent arrests of protesters at Columbia University and a mob attack on pro-Palestinian demonstrators at UCLA.
CAIR stated:”For the second consecutive year, the U.S.-backed genocide in Gaza has fueled a wave of Islamophobia in the United States.”
Israel denies allegations of genocide and war crimes.
Last month, a jury in Illinois convicted a man of murder and a hate crime for the October 2023 stabbing of a six-year-old Palestinian-American boy, which also left his mother seriously injured.
Other alarming incidents of anti-Arab discrimination in the U.S. include:
- An attempted drowning of a three-year-old Palestinian-American girl in Texas.
- The stabbing of a Palestinian-American man in Texas.
- The beating of a Muslim man in New York.
- A shooting in Florida targeting two settlers visiting the U.S., mistaken for Palestinians by the Jewish-American shooter.
