The feeling of danger among European Muslims has worsened since the start of the aggression on Gaza News

The British “Tell Mama” campaign has recorded more than 700 reports of anti-Islamic incidents in Britain since October 7, a frequency more than 7 times the incidents recorded the previous month.

Abdullah Dhikri, Vice President of the French Islamic Council, stated that the Council had received 42 letters containing threats or insults in less than a month since the battle. Al-Aqsa floodBut he refrained from reporting any of them due to the wave of targeting mosques with hate and racist messages.

Official data show an increase in the number of hate assault incidents targeting Muslims in Britain, France and Germany in varying proportions, but they do not include incidents of assault that have not been recorded, such as targeting children in schools or assaulting mosques.

Hate marches

Secretary General of the Islamic Council of Britain, Zara Mohammed, said that the British government’s description of the pro-Palestinian protests as “hate marches” made it difficult to defend the rights of Muslims or Palestinians if they were subjected to attack.

She added that the government’s description is “inciting communities against each other, which is divisive and very dangerous.”

Rachid Abdouni, head of an association supervising a mosque in Paris, confirms that the French police refused to provide additional police protection around the mosque at the end of last October, after a far-right member threatened to burn the mosque.

The office of Member of Parliament in Berlin, Hayyan Omar, was also subjected to three incidents of assault after October 7, which varied between the arrival of leaflets filled with hate expressions mixed with pieces of glass and dirt, the smashing of a window, and an assault with a hammer.

Commenting on these incidents, Omar – who is of Syrian Kurdish origin – said, “I feel that I am truly alone. If it is not possible to protect a person with a responsible position, how will others feel?” He explained that the police told him that they were investigating the matter, but they were not Ensures adequate security is provided at its headquarters.

Fear of reporting

“The vast majority of Muslims do not file a complaint when they are victims of such acts,” Abdullah Zekri said, explaining that they avoid spending time on a case that will ultimately be ignored.

For her part, Rima Hanano – from the non-governmental organization “Klem” in Germany – stated that “the police often do not record anti-Islamic crimes under this name, but rather record them as property damage.”

Hanano added that people affected by these crimes are wary of approaching the authorities, “for fear of being exposed to additional harm, not being believed, or being portrayed as the perpetrators.”

Official reaction

The British government confirmed its refusal to tolerate hate crimes, whether in terms of anti-Semitism or hatred against Muslims.

The German Interior Ministry said that it combats all hate crimes, including crimes that explicitly target Muslims, noting that it conducted a survey this year that “provided a greater understanding of anti-Muslim racism.”

As for French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, he acknowledged the increase in the rate of “anti-Muslim acts” after the seventh of last October, while the French police spokesman stated that the data related to anti-Muslim incidents is “incomplete,” indicating that it depends only on presenting the victims. For complaints.

French President Emmanuel Macron also commented last week on the spread of news of attacks on mosques and the spread of anti-Muslim comments by intellectuals on television, saying that “protecting French adherents of the Jewish faith should not be matched by defamation of French adherents of the Islamic religion.”

Historical motives

For his part, Reza Zia Ebrahimi, a historian at King’s College London and author of the book “Antisemitism and Islamophobia: An Intertwined History,” said, “The colonial and religious past of Western Europe portrayed Islam as reactionary and alien, which contributed to the entrenchment of prejudice among sectors of the population.” And in institutions.

Ibrahimi commented on the French Interior Ministry’s decision to ban pro-Palestinian protests, considering them a threat to public order, that it “stimulated a view that Arabs are aggressors, and that Palestinian supporters are motivated by anti-Semitism.”

Member of the German Islamic Council, Ayman Mazik, said, “There is a need to appoint a federal government commissioner concerned with the issue of Islamophobia,” commenting on the presence of commissioners concerned with following up on issues of anti-Semitism and anti-Roma racism.

He added, “The fact that we have such a large number of commissioners in Germany, with no commissioner specifically concerned with Islam, is discrimination in itself.”

The German Commissioner for Racism Affairs, Reem Al-Abali, acknowledged the need to improve the level of oversight, after a survey conducted by the Ministry of the Interior showed that one out of every two Germans has anti-Islamic views.