European officials ‘deeply concerned’ for Muslims amid surge in attacks

Anti-racism officials across Europe have called on law enforcement agencies to remain alert for hate crimes against Muslims and “spare no effort” to protect them, in one of the first statements aimed at addressing a rise in Islamophobia amid the Israel-Hamas war.

The statement, signed by representatives from 10 European countries as well as EU officials, notes the rising number of hate crimes, hate speech and threats to civil liberties that have targeted Muslim and Jewish communities across Europe in recent months. Both “have become targets of physical and verbal attacks”, with people feeling “more and more unsafe and threatened, online and offline”, it read.

Addressing Islamophobia in particular, the group said it was “deeply concerned” for Muslims. “Such phenomena, if not addressed, can threaten social cohesion within our societies and can expose vulnerable communities to further harms,” it said.

The statement comes as tensions surge across the continent, leaving officials scrambling to contain a rise in hate crimes that have included an attempted arson on a synagogue in Berlin and more than 1,000 antisemitic acts in France. “Antisemitism and anti-Muslim hatred are equally reprehensible,” officials noted in the statement, published on Wednesday.

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It called on national authorities to “spare no effort to ensure the safety of Muslim communities, whether it is in places of worship, workplaces, schools or their homes”, and urged public safety and law enforcement agencies to “remain alert to incidents of hate crimes and hate motivated violence against Muslims”.

Muslim communities have voiced concerns over rising hostilities in recent weeks. Earlier this month, the French Muslim Council told media that it had received 42 letters containing threats or insults in October alone. Mosques had also been targeted, with 17 of them receiving threatening letters and 14 vandalised, it said.

In Berlin, a lawmaker, Jian Omar, of Kurdish-Syrian background, said he had been attacked by a man wielding a hammer and spewing racist insults earlier this month, while officials at the Ibn Badis mosque on the outskirts of Paris said they had received a letter containing death threats. Both cases were under investigation, but police said they were unable to increase security, Reuters reported.

Thursday’s EU statement, which makes no mention of the conflict in the Middle East – instead referring to the “current geopolitical context” – comes a week after Geert Wilders’ far-right, anti-Islam party became the biggest in the Netherlands, causing fears among many Muslims in the country.

Shada Islam, a Brussels-based analyst and commentator, described the statement as a “small but much-needed step” towards fighting racism across Europe. (UK Guardian)