AhlulBayt News Agency: The White House announced on Thursday what it called the national strategy to counter Islamophobia as a Muslim rights advocacy group says the strategy is "too little, too late."
The plan outlins over 100 measures which is said to be aimed at reducing hate, violence, bias, and discrimination against Muslims and Arab Americans. This initiative follows a similar plan to combat antisemitism introduced by President Joe Biden in May 2023.
The anti-Islamophobia strategy, developed over several months, was released just five weeks before Biden's term ends. The White House claimed that most actions have already been implemented, with the remainder expected to be completed before Inauguration Day on January 20, when President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
In a statement, the Biden administration emphasized the urgency of the initiative, citing a spike in threats against American Muslim and Arab communities over the past year. This includes the tragic October 2023 murder of 6-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi, an American Muslim boy of Palestinian descent, in Illinois.
The strategy focuses on four main priorities: raising awareness of hatred against Muslims and Arabs while recognizing their heritages, improving their safety and security, accommodating Muslim and Arab religious practices to reduce discrimination, and fostering cross-community solidarity to combat hate.
In response, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) issued a statement expressing disappointment with the timing and impact of the strategy.
"Although we and many American Muslims would normally welcome a national strategy to combat Islamophobia, the White House’s long-delayed document is too little, too late," the group said.
They argued that it fails to address federal programs that perpetuate anti-Muslim discrimination, such as the federal watchlist, and does not tackle what they see as the primary driver of anti-Muslim bigotry: the "U.S.-backed genocide in Gaza."
“President Biden cannot credibly claim to care about Muslims or Islamophobia while simultaneously supporting the Israeli government’s destruction of mosques, desecration of Qurans, and mass murder of a predominantly Muslim population. By enabling Netanyahu’s war crimes, President Biden has sadly become a mass murderer of Muslims," reads the statement.
They urged Biden to force an end to the war in Gaza as the most effective way to reduce Islamophobia before leaving office. The Israeli war on Gaza since October last year has claimed lives of more than 44,830 people in Gaza, mostly women and children.
The genocidal war has also led to a spike in anti-Muslim hate crimes in Western countries, including the United States.
From January to June 2024, CAIR recorded 4,951 bias complaints nationwide, a 69 percent increase compared to the same period in 2023. Their 2024 civil rights report, titled "Fatal: The Resurgence of Anti-Muslim Hate," documented 8,061 complaints, the highest number in the organization's 30-year history. Nearly half of these complaints were reported in the last three months of 2023.
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The plan outlins over 100 measures which is said to be aimed at reducing hate, violence, bias, and discrimination against Muslims and Arab Americans. This initiative follows a similar plan to combat antisemitism introduced by President Joe Biden in May 2023.
The anti-Islamophobia strategy, developed over several months, was released just five weeks before Biden's term ends. The White House claimed that most actions have already been implemented, with the remainder expected to be completed before Inauguration Day on January 20, when President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
In a statement, the Biden administration emphasized the urgency of the initiative, citing a spike in threats against American Muslim and Arab communities over the past year. This includes the tragic October 2023 murder of 6-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi, an American Muslim boy of Palestinian descent, in Illinois.
The strategy focuses on four main priorities: raising awareness of hatred against Muslims and Arabs while recognizing their heritages, improving their safety and security, accommodating Muslim and Arab religious practices to reduce discrimination, and fostering cross-community solidarity to combat hate.
In response, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) issued a statement expressing disappointment with the timing and impact of the strategy.
"Although we and many American Muslims would normally welcome a national strategy to combat Islamophobia, the White House’s long-delayed document is too little, too late," the group said.
They argued that it fails to address federal programs that perpetuate anti-Muslim discrimination, such as the federal watchlist, and does not tackle what they see as the primary driver of anti-Muslim bigotry: the "U.S.-backed genocide in Gaza."
“President Biden cannot credibly claim to care about Muslims or Islamophobia while simultaneously supporting the Israeli government’s destruction of mosques, desecration of Qurans, and mass murder of a predominantly Muslim population. By enabling Netanyahu’s war crimes, President Biden has sadly become a mass murderer of Muslims," reads the statement.
They urged Biden to force an end to the war in Gaza as the most effective way to reduce Islamophobia before leaving office. The Israeli war on Gaza since October last year has claimed lives of more than 44,830 people in Gaza, mostly women and children.
The genocidal war has also led to a spike in anti-Muslim hate crimes in Western countries, including the United States.
From January to June 2024, CAIR recorded 4,951 bias complaints nationwide, a 69 percent increase compared to the same period in 2023. Their 2024 civil rights report, titled "Fatal: The Resurgence of Anti-Muslim Hate," documented 8,061 complaints, the highest number in the organization's 30-year history. Nearly half of these complaints were reported in the last three months of 2023.
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