US: Maryland Reports Rise in Islamophobic, Anti-Palestinian Incidents

IQNA – Cases of Islamophobic incidents are increasing in Maryland and across the United States, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

The rise in incidents is not limited to anti-Muslim sentiment; anti-Palestinian incidents are also on the rise. The Maryland CAIR office reported a 23% increase in complaints statewide since last year, with 413 incidents documented in early 2024.

Zainab Chaudry, director of CAIR Maryland, on Thursday noted that these crimes are significantly under-reported.

"There's just a very real fear and reluctance to want to come forward," she said, NBC reported. "Oftentimes, a lot of students feel pressure to not come forward, or they feel like there's going to be some retaliation or harassment."

Of the complaints received, 45% were related to discrimination, 22% to First Amendment issues, 16% to bullying, and 7% to hate crimes and bias incidents.

Members of the Muslim community shared their personal experiences at a press conference on Thursday.

"We have had counter-protestors shout verbal assaults and death threats to us at rallies, often with children present," said Iman Shehadeh. "At a demonstration in Howard County earlier this year, one of our group members was physically assaulted by a counter-protestor."

"A group of people stood outside the mosque with signs while shouting hateful Islamophobic comments at the worshippers entering the mosque. On another occasion, women who were wearing the hijab, or headscarf, were targeted at the mosque and felt threatened by bigots who don't believe people who pray or look like us deserve to be treated with basic dignity," said Malak Kamel.

CAIR Maryland aims to raise awareness about this trend and plans to use the data for potential legislation in the 2025 general assembly session.

"Our hope is to work with lawmakers to establish some sort of criteria and guidelines and also to make sure there is accountability as well. One of the key unfortunate issues we deal with is oftentimes when issues are reported to law enforcement, law enforcement don't handle them with the kind of seriousness they deserve," Chaudry said.

There has been a significant rise in Islamophobic incidents and anti-Muslim hate crimes in Western countries since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza last October.

Experts believe false pro-Israeli media campaigns are fueling hatred against Muslims across the world.

Source: Agencies