Record-high year for Islamophobia spurred by war in Gaza, civil rights group says

The Council on American Islamic Relations received more than 8,000 complaints in 2023 – the highest in its 30-year history – and nearly half of those complaints came in the final three months in the year.

In CAIR's 2023 report, the organization reported the "primary force behind this wave of heightened Islamophobia was the escalation of violence in Israel and Palestine in October 2023." There were 8,061 complaints in 2023, shattering the previous high of just over 6,700 in 2021.

Complaints include immigration and asylum cases, employment discrimination, education discrimination and hate crimes and incidents. The complaints frequently were called in, however in some cases CAIR staff documented them from news articles and other sources.

CAIR recorded 607 hate crimes and incidents in 2023, an increase from 117 incidents in 2022. Hate crimes listed in the report required law enforcement intervention or involved court cases worked by CAIR attorneys, said the group's staff attorney Zanah Ghalawanji.

"A lot of people in the Muslim community reported that the time period felt a lot worse to them than 9/11," she said.

Muslims were painted in a negative light regarding the war, Ghalawanji added, which also fueled hate crimes. In Michigan, a man was charged last October for allegedly making a terrorist threat against Palestinians in Dearborn. In Illinois, a man faces several charges including two hate crimes for allegedly fatally stabbing 6-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume.

War becomes flashpoint for hate in the US

The 30-year high in Islamophobia made many Muslims, especially women who wear hijabs, feel unsafe going out, Ghalawanji said.

"I was exercising increased vigilance when we were going out for walks with my daughter, just making sure that our surroundings were safe," she said.

CAIR wasn't the only organization that tracked an increase in anti-Muslim hate in the US. Rachel Carroll Rivas, interim director of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project, has tracked the surge of hate groups across the nation. She said fewer anti-Muslim groups popped up in 2023, but as the latest Israel-Hamas war started, the groups became more active.

Among the high number of complaints CAIR received in 2023, the organization said that just under half (44%) were reported in October, November and December.

The spike in Islamophobia doesn't surprise Heidi Beirich, founder of Global Project Against Extremism. She said her group tracked a nearly 500% increase in violent antisemitic and Islamophobic speech from Oct. 6 to Oct. 10 on unmoderated websites.

She and Carroll Rivas agreed CAIR's numbers are more substantiative than what any law enforcement agency can provide, as local police aren't required to report hate crimes to the FBI. They added people are more inclined to report the crimes to civil rights groups due to distrust of police and a fear of not being taken seriously.

Momentum is growing to better address hate crimes in America, Beirich said. Legislation to standardize hate crime reporting is being debated in Congress and federal grants are being given to places of worship for security to protect worshippers and rapidly respond to incidents.

"We need cops to be talking to communities, even if it's extremely difficult, and there are tensions and distrust," she said. "They've got to build those relationships. They have to understand that hate crime is a real kind of crime that has to be addressed and thought about when they think about how to do their policing."

Ghalawanji is hopeful complaints will trend down this year with the United Nations successfully passing a cease-fire resolution and people actively learning more about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

"It'll be slow, but I think we'll get there," she said.

Contact reporter Krystal Nurse at knurse@USATODAY.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, @KrystalRNurse.