Rights Group Highlights Rise in Anti-Muslim Hate Crimes in US Senate Statement

IQNA – The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has submitted a detailed written statement to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.

The Tuesday statement was included in the official record of a hearing titled “A Threat to Justice Everywhere: Stemming the Tide of Hate Crimes in America.”

CAIR's statement presents alarming statistics on the rise of Islamophobic hate crimes, discrimination, and violence against American Muslims and Palestinians, according to the group’s official presser.

The organization attributes this increase to ongoing Israeli war on Gaza and the Occupied West Bank. The submission details several disturbing incidents, including the murder of six-year-old Palestinian-American Wadee AlFayoumi in Chicago, the firing of Muslim employees, and discriminatory policies targeting students. It also offers recommendations for addressing systemic discrimination and strengthening legislative protections for Muslim, Palestinian, and allied communities.

The statement calls for the adoption of H.Con.Res. 99 and S.Res. 589, which honor Wadee AlFayoumi’s memory and recognize his death as a hate crime targeting his Palestinian-Muslim identity.

Robert S. McCaw, CAIR’s Director of Government Affairs and author of the statement, expressed the organization's concerns: “We are gravely concerned about the rise in violent and deadly threats targeting American Muslims and Palestinian advocates.”

The statement draws on findings from CAIR’s latest civil rights reports, including the “2024 Civil Rights Report: Fatal: The Resurgence of Anti-Muslim Hate,” which documents a 56 percent increase in Islamophobic incidents in 2023. Another report, “Hostile: How Universities Target Anti-Genocide Protesters While Enabling Anti-Palestinian Racism and Islamophobia,” outlines widespread discrimination against students and faculty advocating for Palestinian human rights on college campuses.

From January to June 2024, CAIR documented 4,951 bias complaints nationwide, a 69 percent increase over the same period in 2023.

The statement concludes with a call to action: "We urge Congress to take decisive action to combat Islamophobia, safeguard free speech, and ensure that Muslim Americans can exercise their rights without fear of discrimination or retaliation.”

Source: Agencies