A group of college students of Palestinian descent in Vermont shot while wearing keffiyehs as civil rights advocates claim that antisemitic, Islamophobic, and anti-Arab hate crimes have escalated to previously unheard-of levels since Hamas and Israel declared war on one other.
Muslim leaders have alerted the public to a startling increase in hate crimes.
Since October 7th, the Council on American-Islamic Relations has kept track of 2,171 requests for assistance and complaints of bigotry.
“From Burlington to Chicago and elsewhere, innocent Americans are suffering the consequences of this wave of bigotry,” Corey Saylor, research and advocacy director at CAIR, told CNN. “Until our nation stops the violence overseas and rejects bigotry here at home, we fear that both Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism will continue to spin out of control.”
“The US remains in a heightened threat environment and recent events reinforce that,” a DHS spokesperson told The Independent last month. “As the Israel-Hamas conflict continues, we have seen an increase in reports of threats against Jewish, Muslim, and Arab communities and institutions. Lone offenders, motivated by a range of violent ideologies, pose the most likely threat.”
