White House touts effort to counter Islamophobia as antisemitic attacks rise

The White House is pushing anti-Islamophobia efforts as threats against Jewish people have seen a notable rise in publicity in the weeks since Israel was attacked by Hamas terrorists.

Vice President Kamala Harris announced on Wednesday that the Biden administration would be developing a “National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia,” calling it the “latest step forward in our work to combat a surge of hate in America.”

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“For years, Muslims in America and those perceived to be Muslim have endured a disproportionate number of hate-fueled attacks. As a result of the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel, and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, we have seen an uptick in anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, antisemitic, and Islamophobic incidents across America, including the brutal attack of a Palestinian American woman, who is Muslim, and the killing of her 6-year-old son,” Harris said in a video posted to X, formerly known as Twitter.

The announcement of the strategy to counter Islamophobia comes months after the administration announced a “National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism,” which included steps for each part of the federal government to combat hate crimes against Jewish people.

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The push against Islamophobia also comes as some pro-Palestinian protests have devolved into antisemitism and a day after the Justice Department announced it had arrested a Cornell student for making online threats against Jewish people, among other threats made against Jews.

FBI hate crime statistics from 2021 show that of 1,590 religion-based incidents, anti-Jewish incidents made up 51.4% of them despite Jewish people only being estimated to make up 1.9% of the population. Anti-Islamic incidents were the third-most common religion-based hate crime, with incidents against Muslims making up 9.6% of religious incidents.