The fallout from Hamas’ surprise terrorist attack on Israel earlier in October is being felt in places far from the Middle East, including the United States.
Tensions over who is to blame for the latest war in the Middle East have reportedly resulted in both Jews and Muslims reporting an increase in threats and other hostile acts allegedly motivated by prejudice. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) have tracked the rise in such incidents and have been sounding the alarm.
Some of the alleged incidents were connected to various rallies that have been held across the United States, some in support of Israel and some in support of Palestine. The Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism counted 109 anti-Israel rallies where “explicit or strong implicit support for Hamas and/or violence against Jews in Israel” was expressed.
Still, the two conflicting sides often disagree on what constitutes an anti-Semitic or anti-Muslim act or speech. The ADL, for instance, claims the slogan “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” is a call for the destruction of Israel. Palestinian activists reject that interpretation, claiming the slogan is a call for equal rights and protections for Palestinians in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza, per the Associated Press.
The ADL said that between October 7 and October 23, it received reports of 312 anti-Semitic incidents, compared to just 64 clocked during the same period in 2022. One of the incidents reported to the ADL includes the alleged punching of a Jewish woman in the face at New York’s Grand Central Terminal by a man who purportedly said he did it because she was Jewish.
A CAIR spokesperson claimed the organization’s national office and chapters had received a combined 774 reports of bias-related incidents against Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims between October 7 and October 24, according to the AP.
Such incidents included the fatal stabbing of a 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy and the wounding of his mother by their landlord, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
The landlord had posted on social media asking others to join him in hunting Palestinians, per the AP.
The national CAIR office alone logged 110 reported cases during those three weeks in October compared to the 63 it recorded for all of August, as reported by the AP. CAIR leaders claimed it was the most complaints they had received since December 2015.
