The 64-page document, which maps out more than 100 executive branch actions, comes weeks before the inauguration of former President Donald Trump, who imposed a travel ban on people from some majority Muslim countries during his first term that Biden rescinded on his first day in office.

It mirrors a comprehensive strategy to fight antisemitism released by the White House in September 2023, and comes more than a year after death of six-year-old boy Wadea Al-Fayoume, stabbed by a man who targeted him and his mother because they were Palestinian-American.

In a foreword to the strategy, Biden called the attacks on the Chicago boy and his mother “heinous acts” and noted a spike in anti-Muslim and anti-Arab hate crimes, discrimination and bullying that he called wrong and unacceptable.

“Muslims and Arabs deserve to live with dignity and enjoy every right to the fullest extent along with all of their fellow Americans,” Biden wrote. “Policies that result in discrimination against entire communities are wrong and fail to keep us safe.”

The Council on American Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights group, called the strategy “too little, too late” and faulted the White House for not promising any changes to a federal watchlist and “no-fly” list that includes many Arab and Muslim Americans, and for failing to end the war in Gaza, which has been driving Islamophobia.

Jim Zogby, founder of the Arab American Institute, predicted the incoming Trump administration would disown the strategy, but welcomed the White House’s expansion to include anti-Arab hate instead of focusing solely on acts directed against Muslims.

The Trump transition team had no immediate comment on the strategy or whether it would support it.

Trump, who won support from some Muslim voters angry about Biden’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza, has said he will ban entry to the U.S. of anyone who questions Israel’s right to exist and revoke visas of foreign students who are “antisemitic.”

Tensions between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian groups surged on some U.S. campuses after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in Israel, with human rights advocates warning of rising antisemitism, Islamophobia and anti-Arab hate.

Source: Reuters

A third of Muslims in the UK said the recent far-right riots have led them to consider leaving the country, a survey revealed.

The survey, conducted by Survation on behalf of Tell Mama, an NGO that tracks hate crimes targeting Muslims, revealed rising concerns within British Muslim communities following the violent unrest that swept across the UK this summer.

One in four Muslims interviewed, either online or by phone, reported experiencing anti-Muslim hate or Islamophobia after July 30, the day following a mass stabbing in Southport.

The violence, which was sparked by false online claims that a Muslim asylum seeker was responsible for the fatal stabbing of three children in Southport, led to a significant surge in charges as authorities address the unrest.

Two-thirds of survey respondents said they felt the risk of harm to Muslim communities had increased since July 30, with more than two-thirds expressing that anti-Muslim hate and Islamophobia had become more prevalent.

Nearly four in 10 participants also said they believed their local mosque was at risk from far-right groups and extremists, according to the survey.

However, despite the hostility, half of the respondents said the riots had made them feel “more open about their Muslim identity,” and six out of 10 said they still felt safe in the UK.

In a statement, Tell Mama said: “The poll findings demonstrate that anti-Muslim hate or Islamophobia is having significant impacts on Britain’s Muslim communities.”

It added that in the weeks following the riots in late July, Tell Mama had been inundated with reports from the public, many of whom had been shouted at, threatened with death, spat at, or physically assaulted.

The survey, which contacted 750 Muslims in the UK between Sept. 30 and Oct. 14, highlights the ongoing challenges faced by British Muslims in the wake of the far-right violence.

Source: Anadolu Agency