Mikati stresses the necessity of stopping the Israeli “aggression” against southern Lebanon and Gaza

Jian Omar, a member of parliament in Berlin of Syrian Kurdish descent, feels he is not protected by the police after being targeted with hate-filled leaflets mixed with glass and feces, a broken window and an assault with a hammer since the Palestinian Hamas movement’s October 7 attack on Israel.

More than 30 community leaders and advocates consulted by Reuters said the three incidents at Omar’s election office were part of growing anti-Muslim hostility in Europe that politicians have at times stoked since the Hamas attack. They added that other incidents were not reported due to low confidence in the police.

“I feel really alone,” Omar said, “and if it is not possible to protect someone with the status of an elected official, how should others feel?” He added that the police were investigating the matter, but told him that they could not provide more security at his headquarters.

He continued, “Imagine if a white German politician was attacked by an immigrant or refugee,” indicating that the security forces would do more in such cases. Berlin police did not respond to a request for comment.

Hate crimes have increased dramatically in Europe since the October 7 attack, which Israel says killed about 1,200, and the subsequent Israeli invasion and bombing of Gaza that killed more than 15,000 Palestinians, with recorded anti-Semitic incidents rising by 1,240 percent in London. Sharp increases were seen in France and Germany.

Official data shows a clear and smaller increase in anti-Muslim incidents in Britain, which is uneven relative to the other two countries. The data does not fully capture the extent of attacks and hostility against individuals and mosques, including children who were targeted in schools, according to people consulted by Reuters, some of whom requested anonymity due to fear of retaliation.

Jewish groups and leaders in the three countries said that failure to report all incidents is also common among victims of anti-Semitism.

Zara Mohammed, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said the language used by the government, such as describing pro-Palestinian protests as “hate marches,” made the war against anti-Semitism and for the rights of Muslims or Palestinians a zero-sum game in the minds of many people.

She added, “The ministers were really reckless, and this promotion of cultural wars and inciting communities against each other is really unhelpful, and is very divisive and dangerous.” The British government did not respond to a question about the official use of this language.

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The feeling of vulnerability among European Muslims has been exacerbated by the electoral victory achieved last week by far-right Dutch populist Geert Wilders, who previously called for a ban on mosques and the Qur’an in the Netherlands. In the United States, deadly violence has occurred against Palestinians since October 7.

At the Ibn Badis Mosque in Nanterre, Paris, elderly worshipers are afraid to attend dawn prayers in the dark, two worshipers there said, after a written threat to burn down the mosque in late October from an apparent far-right sympathizer.

Rachid Abdouni, head of the association supervising the mosque, said that the request for additional police protection was not met. Local police said they were patrolling the area but had few resources. Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A French-Moroccan taxi driver named Khalil Raboun (42 years old) said outside the mosque after Friday prayers: “Do I want my daughter to grow up in this climate?”

The Tell Mama campaign said that attempted arson, verbal abuse, vandalism and the leaving of a pig’s head at the site of a mosque were among more than 700 reports of anti-Islamic incidents in Britain in the month following the Hamas attack, a seven-fold increase from Previous Month. The “Tell Mama” campaign only reports some incidents to the police, with the requirement that the complainant consent to the action.

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Abdullah Zekri, Vice President of the French Islamic Council, said that the Council received 42 messages containing threats or insults in the period between October 7 and November 1, but did not report any of them, amid a wave of hate messages and racist writings on the Internet. Mosques.

He added, “The vast majority of Muslims do not file a complaint when they are victims of such acts.” Even the imams of the mosques do not want this. They do not want to spend two hours or more at the police station filing a complaint that will most likely be filed in the end.”

In Germany, Rima Hanano from the non-governmental organization (Klem) says that the police also do not often record anti-Islamic crimes under this label due to a lack of awareness. For example, attacks on mosques are sometimes recorded simply as property damage.

“People affected by racism, such as Muslims and those perceived to be Muslims, are often wary of going to the authorities because they fear further victimization, not being believed, or being portrayed as the perpetrators,” she added.

A British government spokesman said: “Anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim hatred or any other form of hatred must have zero tolerance,” adding that police are expected to conduct a full investigation into such attacks.

The German Interior Ministry said that it “addresses all types of hatred, including explicit Islamophobia,” and indicated that it conducted a survey this year that provided a greater understanding of anti-Muslim racism.

In France, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin acknowledged that more anti-Muslim acts had been committed since October 7, although French official numbers for 2023 appeared to be on the way to decline, with 130 incidents recorded as of November 14, compared to 188 incidents recorded throughout last year. The ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

A spokesman for the French National Police also acknowledged that data on anti-Muslim incidents was “incomplete” and relied on victims submitting complaints. He added that the security services are actively monitoring anti-Semitic incidents.

France and Germany developed institutional mechanisms to deal with anti-Semitic acts in the wake of the World War II Holocaust and in response to persistent anti-Jewish prejudice.

Western Europe’s colonial and religious past also portrayed Islam as reactionary and alien, which contributed to entrenching prejudice among sectors of the population and in institutions, said Reza Zia Ebrahimi, a historian at King’s College London and author of “Antisemitism and Islamophobia: An Intertwined History.”

Attacks by Islamic militants in Europe or abroad often have repercussions for the general Muslim population.

After the defacement of mosques and the spread of anti-Muslim comments from intellectuals on television, French President Emmanuel Macron said last week that “protecting the French from adherents of the Jewish religion should not be matched by defamation of the French who adhere to the Islamic religion.”

However, historian Zia Ibrahimi said that the French Interior Ministry’s decision to ban pro-Palestinian protests as a danger to public order in the wake of Hamas attacks prompted a view that Arabs are aggressors, and that Palestinian supporters are motivated by anti-Semitism.

Amnesty International described the comprehensive ban as disproportionate.

Ayman Mazik of the German Islamic Council said there was a need to appoint a federal government commissioner on the issue of Islamophobia to complement the current commissioners on anti-Semitism and anti-Roma racism.

He added, “The fact that we have such a large number of commissioners in Germany, with no commissioner specifically concerned with Islam, is discrimination in itself.”

Reem Al-Ablali-Radovan, the newly appointed German Commissioner for Racism Affairs, acknowledged the need for better monitoring after a survey conducted by the Interior Ministry showed that one in two Germans has anti-Islamic views.

For some Muslims in Germany, which has taken in about a million Syrians and just under 400,000 Afghans in the past few years, the growing hostility comes as a surprise.

Ghalia Zaghal came to Germany from Syria in 2015, and said she had never faced any major problems related to discrimination. But shortly after October 7, she was pushed twice in one day, and a man shouted at her, saying: “This is my street, not yours.”

Zagal, who owns a beauty salon in Berlin, added, “I was so shocked that I could not go to the police.”