A New York woman accused of pepper-spraying her Muslim Uber driver while he prayed at a red light has been charged with assault as a hate crime, prosecutors said Thursday.

Jennifer Guilbeault, 23, is accused of the “anti-Muslim” attack on July 31, the Manhattan district attorney’s office said Monday.

She was in the back seat of an Uber with another person at 12:15 a.m. when she lunged toward the driver, 45, with a can of pepper spray and sprayed him in the face after he began praying in Arabic at a red light, officials alleged.

The spray caused “burning, redness and pain,” the DA said in a release. A few minutes later, the driver called 911, and Guilbeault was arrested at the scene.

Guilbeault has been charged in a New York State Supreme Court indictment with second-degree assault as a hate crime, third-degree assault as a hate crime and second-degree aggravated harassment.

She pleaded not guilty at her arraignment Monday and was released with non-monetary conditions, according to court records. She is due back in court on Jan. 13.

“As alleged, Jennifer Guilbeault senselessly assaulted a Muslim Uber driver while he was just doing his job,” District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement. “The victim is a hardworking New Yorker who should not have to face this type of hate because of his identity.”

He said the office’s hate crime unit will continue to address bias-motivated attacks and support victims.

Michael J. Alber, an attorney for Guilbeault, rejected the hate crime designation. “Ms. Guilbeault was not motivated by race, religion, national origin, or any other discriminatory factor,” he said in a statement.

“A full and fair review of the evidence is going to show a crime was not committed in this matter, and that a rush to judgment is not appropriate, and is hurtful to all those involved,” he added.

Since the Hamas-Israel war began, there has been a rise in antisemitic and anti-Arab and anti-Muslim incidents reported in the U.S.

The Council on American Islamic Relations said in a report in April that it received the highest number of bias reports in its 30-year history last year. The complaints ranged from verbal discrimination in the classroom or workplace to incidents of physical violence reported to police.

Source: NBC News

Most times, the Muslim community is only thinking of how Islamophobic tropes of otherization, not belonging in the U.S., Muslim women being called “towel heads,” boys being called Taliban, and other claims that label both males and females as terrorists impact the Muslim psyche – but bullying is not the only impact. Dr. Sawsan Jabr’s research suggests that as a result of Arab students experience in schools, they are having to adopt a dual identity of choosing to be Muslim or American at school. These are some of the consequences of Islamophobia on Muslim students, but we are often not asking the question of how Islamophobia impacts students of other faiths, too. I do not mean the obvious impact of Islamophobia of prejudice and bullying against Muslim students – I mean that if non-Muslim students never learn anything about the facts about Islam, the Islamophobia industry, and never hear Muslim voices, then what kind of society are we systematically creating?

It’s important to understand that schools often replicate what is happening in society.  Muslims are often dehumanized, blamed, and dragged into stories that have no basis in Islam itself- the case that comes to mind is the Virginia State Senator Amanda Chase who made an argument for not masking by attacking Islam and Muslims and claiming that when people mask, it’s similar to wearing the niqab and that will “break their will and individuality”. These outrageous and false claims make me further question what people are learning in schools and what the purpose of school is.

Source: MuslimMatters.org