deadly Stabbing incident in IllinoisShootings in Pennsylvania, pointing guns at protesters, vandalism of synagogues and harassment of Palestinian restaurant workers have raised concerns that a war between Israel and Hamas is sparking violence in the United States.
When conflict breaks out in the Middle East and Americans are killed or taken hostage, crimes against Jewish and Muslim communities rise and tensions ensue.
“The threats we face to America’s faith communities are twofold,” said Brian Levine, founding director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino.
While it’s too early to determine whether anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic crimes increased during the war, there was an overall increase in hate crimes in the United States last year.In its Annual report released on MondayThe FBI estimates that hate crime cases increased 7% in 2022 from the previous year, to 11,634. There were 1,124 anti-Semitic attacks, making it the second most reported hate crime after anti-Black cases. The report said 158 anti-Muslim attacks and 92 anti-Arab attacks had been reported.
However, civil rights groups argue that even before Hamas attacked Israel, crime data did not reflect reality due to a lack of involvement from local police departments and fear within the Muslim population, said Robert McCaw, director of government affairs for the civil rights group. Council on American-Islamic Relations. In 2021, the Institute for Otherness and Belonging at the University of California, Berkeley, released a study in which 85% of people with Islamophobia said they had not reported it to authorities.
“The true numbers remain to be seen,” McCaw said.
In one of the most disturbing recent incidents, a Plainfield, Ill., landlord is accused of attacking a Palestinian-American tenant and her son with knives on Saturday, allegedly because of their Muslim faith. 6-year-old boy stabbed to death and injured mother. Sheriffs, prosecutors and family members have said the boy and his mother were targeted because they are Muslim. More specifically, prosecutors said the landlord was “angry about what was happening in Jerusalem” and his wife told police her husband feared they would be attacked by people of Middle Eastern descent.
In Pennsylvania, a man has been charged with felony racial intimidation after police said he pointed a gun at attendees of a pro-Palestinian rally near the state Capitol on Friday and shouted insults. In Boston, the word “Nazi” was spray-painted on the sign of the Palestinian Cultural Center for Peace.
“There’s a lot of fear. There’s a lot of anxiety and uncertainty with everything that’s going on,” said Abed Ayoub, national executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. He said the organization had received more than 100 reports, including verbal harassment, threats, intimidation and physical attacks.
“It’s reminiscent of the early days after 9/11, when people didn’t want to go out and send their kids to school,” he said. “They’re just worried about being out in public and being approached.”
In Dearborn, Miss., which has the largest per capita Muslim population in the United States, community and faith leaders met Monday outside the city’s police department. The city has seen numerous threats of violence in recent days, including one where a man was accused of asking on social media if anyone in metro Detroit wanted to “go to Dearborn and go after Palestinians.”
“We have to understand that these overseas problems are not just overseas, but they are also very much a problem here,” said Imran Salha, the imam of the Islamic Center in Detroit.
Historically, anti-Semitic hate crimes have increased during violent Israeli-Palestinian conflicts, said Levine, professor emeritus at California State University.
Citing FBI statistics, he said anti-Semitic hate crimes surged from 79 per month to 147 after an American-Israeli extremist opened fire on Palestinian Muslims in a mosque in March 1994. In October 2000, after a series of violent protests in Arab villages in northern Israel, anti-Semitic hate crimes in the United States surged from 81 to 204 in the previous month. Levin observed similar trends in May 2021, particularly in cities with large Jewish populations such as New York and Los Angeles.
Last week in Orange, California, fliers spreading anti-Semitic rhetoric were left on neighborhoods and vehicles. In Fresno, police said a man suspected of breaking a window and leaving an anti-Semitic note at a bakery was also a “suspect” in vandalizing a local synagogue.
Julie Platt, president of the Jewish Federations of North America, said synagogues and Jewish community centers across the country have been ramping up security plans, but she doesn’t want to see community members ducking for cover.
“I think the whole purpose of this is to scare us psychologically,” she said. “As long as I don’t hear any credible threats, I believe we should live Jewish lives.”
Several Palestinian Americans interviewed on Friday in a Brooklyn neighborhood with a large Arab population said the atmosphere had been tense over the past week.
Jumana Alkaram said she had not been personally threatened, but said: “I know if I were to display my heritage or the Palestinian flag, there would be some type of threat. Because most people get Israeli support, and do not understand the full legitimate story of what is happening in Gaza.”
Ayat, a Palestinian restaurant in New York City, was forced to disconnect after receiving “non-stop” threatening voicemails, according to co-owner Abdul Elenani. The storefront features a mural of a crying Palestinian, and the menu calls for “an end to the occupation.” On Friday, a man walked into the restaurant and yelled “terrorist” at the person behind the counter, Elenani said.
Still, he said, the hostile reception he received was belied by the support he received from neighbors, many of whom were Jewish and shared his views on minimizing civilian deaths.
“In New York, we live together, work together, and grow together,” Elenani said. “We all want this violence to stop.”
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Larmer reported from Concord, New Hampshire. Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti in Dearborn, Miss.; Deepa Bharath in Los Angeles; Jake Offenhartz, Noreen Nasir and Ayesha Mir in New York; Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pa.; Jim Salter in St. Louis Report contributed.
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