In its annual data, CAIR recorded 8,658 complaints of anti-Muslim or anti-Arab bias, the highest total since it began tracking such incidents in 1996. Most complaints fell into employment discrimination (15.4%), immigration and asylum (14.8%), education discrimination (9.8%), and hate crimes (7.5%).
Campus crackdowns and rising hostility
The report also detailed multiple police and university actions against pro-Palestinian protests that escalated at U.S. colleges in the summer of 2024. Demonstrators demanded an end to Washington’s support for Israel, leading to suspended classes, administrator resignations, and protests in which participants were arrested or violently dispersed. Advocates have condemned the crackdown as infringing on free speech rights.
Incidents of violence and hate
Citing the “deadly Hamas attack” of October 2023 and Israel’s subsequent assault on Gaza, CAIR linked the conflict to surging Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias in the United States. Although Israel denies genocide and war crimes allegations, CAIR says the situation in Gaza has “driven a wave of Islamophobia.”
High-profile hate crime cases included an Illinois jury’s conviction last month of a man for the October 2023 fatal stabbing of a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy. The report also cites multiple other attacks targeting Palestinians or Muslims in Texas, New York, and Florida.
Criticism over high-profile arrest
Rights organizations have criticized U.S. authorities for the recent detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian graduate student who spearheaded pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University. Critics say it exemplifies the broader suppression of pro-Palestinian activism nationwide.
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Source: Reuters, CNN