Anti-Muslim hate crimes, mostly against women, have surged in the UK, leaving many feeling targeted and vulnerable. Amid the recent escalation of violence in Gaza, many Muslims are reporting an increase in Islamophobic incidents like vandalism, verbal abuse, and physical assault. 

London

In the UK, there has been a reported increase in anti-Muslim hate crimes, with a particular emphasis on incidents affecting women. This surge in Islamophobic actions includes vandalism, verbal abuse, and physical assault. The rise in such hate crimes is occurring in the context of the recent escalation of violence in Gaza, which many believe has contributed to an environment where Muslims feel increasingly targeted and vulnerable.



Hate crimes on the rise in U.K. since start of Gaza war

The Gaza conflicts inflamed a culture war at the heart of Britain, thrusting Palestinian restauranteur Halim Karala into the firing line of Islamophobic hate, and the first of many death threats aimed at him and his staff. Hello, you do take away? Yes. OK, so I'll come over and take away your life. I'll come over and take away your life, says the voice left on his answer phone. When somebody calls you, I'm going to cut your head, or I'm going to come and close you down, I'm going to send you back to Gaza. Today you are alive, tomorrow you are not. You have to take it seriously. The problem is not Jewish and Palestinian. The problem, we have extremist government in Israel. And everybody, even the Israelis, are hostage of the extremist government in Israel. Multiple monitoring groups say that anti-Muslim hate crimes have more than tripled in the past few months. It takes various different forms, physical, verbal abuse, vandalism, death threats. Much of it directed against Muslim women in headscarves. The wars cast a shadow over British society. And many Muslims fear that elected members of parliament with a duty to protect all communities in their care are making things much, much worse. Senior Conservative MP Lee Anderson refused to apologise for comments he made accusing London's Muslim mayor Sadiq Khan of being controlled by what Anderson called Islamists for allowing anti-Gaza war marches to go ahead. They've got control of Khan and they've got control of London. The Prime Minister Rishi Sunak since suspended him as a Conservative MP, but fallen short of calling his comments Islamophobic. Meanwhile, the former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, a possible future leader of the Conservatives, has claimed that Islamists, extremists and anti-Semites are now in charge of Britain. There cannot be a hierarchy of racism. You've got to be universal and equal in your condemnation of all forms of hatred, prejudice and discrimination, whether it's anti-Semitism or indeed Islamophobia. It sends a message to those in the UK that it's totally acceptable to use dangerous language rhetoric against British Muslims. It's a critical year in the UK. A general election looms with the Gaza war warping UK politics, provoking angry parliamentary walkouts. But instead of calming tensions and condemning racism in all its forms, some in power are accused of turning up the heat. Niamh Barker, Al Jazeera, London.

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