Anti-Muslim complaints hit record high in US during 2023: Muslim group

By Servet Gunerigok

WASHINGTON (AA) - Anti-Muslim complaints hit a record high in the US in 2023, according to a report Tuesday by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

The Muslim civil rights group said it received 8,061 complaints nationwide last year, marking the highest it has ever recorded in its 30-year history.

"We received 3,578 of those complaints between October 1 and December 31. In other words, nearly half of all complaints received in 2023 were reported in the final three months of the year," said the report.

That period was marked by an escalation of hostilities by Israel in the Gaza Strip after an Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, against southern Israel.

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

The 2023 wave of anti-Muslim incidents, a 56% jump compared to the previous year, surpassed the period following the implementation of former President Donald Trump’s Muslim ban in 2017, which saw a 32% jump against the previous year.

The report said the highest-recorded number of complaints previously occurred in 2021, but the number of complaints in 2023 marks a 20% increase from the 6,720 complaints reported in 2021.

"At 1,637 complaints, immigration and asylum cases comprised 20% of total complaints received in 2023. Employment discrimination (1,201 complaints, or 15%), education discrimination (688 complaints, or 8.5%), and hate crimes and incidents (607 complaints, or 7.5%) are among the highest reported categories," it said.

More than 32,800 Palestinians have been killed and 75,300 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities since Israel began its onslaught against Gaza.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on Gaza, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which Thursday asked it to do more to prevent famine in Gaza.