Anti-Muslim Incidents in the US Increased by Approximately 70% in Early 2024 Due to Gaza Conflict

Muslims and Palestinians have continued to suffer increased discrimination and attacks in the U. S. of roughly 70% in the first half of 2024. Similarly, in June 2024, some Muslim students in New York City were shouted at and threatened while attending a public rally, which heightened their feelings of vulnerability. Drawing from such vastly different experiences, incidents such as these create an atmosphere of fear and discrimination that lends further credence to the fact that intervention and support for affected communities is long overdue.

Activists from both sides involved in the conflict revealed that there had been an increase in hatred crimes against Muslims and Jews since the fighting started back in October, leaving thousands dead to make it one of the deadliest conflicts in the world at this time, affecting a humanitarian crisis.

The Washington-based CAIR said it had registered 8,061 complaints of that nature in 2023 and about 3,600 in the past three months since the beginning of the war; within the past nine months, some extreme incidents have happened in the U.S.: this year, October stabbing to death of a 6-year-old Palestinian-American child in Illinois; February Palestinian-American man in Texas stab; November shooting of three students of Palestinian origin in Vermont U. S. A; May attempted drowning of a 3-year-old Palestinian-American girl.

Protests in the U.S. have been reported since October. The CAIR report exposes the condition of policing and authorities addressing protests pro-Palestinian and the demonstration and an encampment on campus; latest round of violence in the decades-long Israel-Palestine conflict erupted when Palestinian Islamist group Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7 of the year, killing 1,200 and abducting some 250, according to Israeli statistics.

According to the Gaza health ministry, the number of Palestinians killed since then has been about 40,000, the entire population of 2.3 million displaced—something posing a hunger risk, amounting to genocide allegations that Israel vehemently denies.

However, CAIR claims it collects figures by monitoring press releases and videos containing data, the information obtained from public hearings, the Email and internet complaint system, and communication with people whose events are described in media facilities.