<\/p>\n
Reported discrimination and attacks against Muslims and Palestinians reached a record high in the US in 2023, driven by rising Islamophobia and bias as the Israeli bombardment of Gaza raged late in the year, data from an advocacy group showed on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Complaints totalled 8,061 in 2023, a 56 per cent rise from the year before and the highest since the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) began records nearly 30 years ago.<\/p>\n
About 3,600 of those incidents occurred from October to December, CAIR said.<\/p>\n
Human rights advocates have similarly reported a global rise in Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian bias and antisemitism since the latest eruption of conflict in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
US incidents have included the fatal October stabbing<\/a> of six-year-old Palestinian American Wadea Al-Fayoume in Illinois, the November shooting of three students<\/a> of Palestinian descent in Vermont and the February stabbing of a Palestinian American man in Texas.<\/p>\n CAIR\u2019s report said 2023 saw a \u201cresurgence of anti-Muslim hate\u201d after the first ever recorded annual drop in complaints in 2022. In the first nine months of 2023, such incidents averaged around 500 a month before jumping to nearly 1,200 a month in the last quarter.<\/p>\n \u201cThe primary force behind this wave of heightened Islamophobia was the escalation of violence<\/a> in Israel and Palestine in October 2023,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n