Since the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, the United States and other nations have reported dramatically heightened numbers of antisemitic and Islamophobic threats, leading to heightened security for their faith-based communities.
The number of reported antisemitic incidents in the U.S. increased by 388% in the four weeks after October 7, according to the Anti-Defamation League, or ADL, while the number of Islamophobic incidents in the U.S. increased 216% during the same timeframe, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR.
As 2023 comes to a close, both anti-hate watchdogs say the most recent conflict in the Middle East — in which 1,200 people were killed and 240 others kidnapped by Hamas, the deadliest terrorist attack in Israel’s history, as well as a U.S.-backed Israeli response in the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 19,000 people — has resulted in a record year for reported incidents of anti-faith hatred.
"In just 8 weeks in October and November of 2023, CAIR received 42% of the complaints it received in all of 2022," the U.S.-based Muslim civil rights and advocacy group said in a report published on December 20. "Following the escalation of hostilities in Israel and Palestine, and specifically the Israeli government’s apparent intent to commit genocide against the Palestinian people, 2023 is set to lay claim to one of the worst waves of anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States in the last three decades."
Israeli and Palestinian representatives at the United Nations have traded accusations of "genocide" over the war raging in Gaza, with both sides demanding an international response.
