Data from an advocacy group revealed on Tuesday that while the Israel-Gaza war raged late in the year, reported discrimination and violence against Muslims and Palestinians in the US hit a record high in 2023, driven by increased Islamophobia and bigotry.
In 2023, there were 8,061 complaints, up 56% from the previous year and the most since the Council on American-Islamic Relations started keeping track of them almost 30 years ago. From October to December, around 3,600 of such occurrences happened, according to CAIR.
Human rights groups have also noted that since the most recent outbreak of conflict in the Middle East, there has been an increase in antisemitism, Islamophobia, and anti-Palestinian prejudice worldwide.
Instances in the US have included the murderous stabbing in October of 6-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume, a Palestinian American, in Illinois, the November shooting of three students of Palestinian descent in Vermont, and the February stabbing of a Palestinian American man in Texas.
