Anti-Muslim discrimination in US hit record high in 2024: CAIR

Discrimination and attacks against Muslims and Arabs in the United States rose by 7.4% last year, hitting a new record amid Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

That’s according to a report issued by the Council on American-Islamic Relations or CAIR, the United States’ largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization.

CAIR’s report notes that the 8,658 complaints of anti-Muslim and anti-Arab incidents last year was the highest number since the group began compiling data.

CAIR has issued an annual report on the state of Muslim civil rights in the U.S. since 1996.

Complaints of employment discrimination were the most common at 15.4% of the total.

Complaints regarding immigration and asylum made up more than 14%, education over nine percent and hate crimes greater than seven percent.

In a press conference, CAIR said, “For the second year in a row, the US-backed Gaza genocide drove a wave of Islamophobia in the United States.”

CAIR also highlighted specific incidents of violence targeting Muslims and Arabs.

Last month, an Illinois man was found guilty of a hate crime for the fatal stabbing of a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy in October 2023.

In Texas, a woman attempted to drown a 3-year-old Palestinian American girl at a swimming pool last May, and a Palestinian American man was stabbed in February last year.

A Muslim man in New York was also beaten, and last month, a Florida man shot two Israeli visitors, who he thought were Palestinian.

CAIR also noted the crackdown on protests on university campuses demanding an end to US support for Israel.

As a result, last summer, classes were cancelled, university administrators resigned, and student protesters were suspended and arrested.