Jan Omar, a Berlin MP of Kurdish-Syrian origin, feels unprotected by the police. After the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, strangers sent him leaflets with hate messages containing glasses and excrement and the window of his office was smashed while someone chased him brandishing a hammer.
The These three incidents, which took place in Omar’s constituency office, are part of a climate of increased hostility towards Muslims in Europe, often fueled by politicians after the Hamas attack.more than 30 community leaders and activists told Reuters, adding that the incidents often go unreported because of a lack of trust in the police.
I feel really alone, and if someone with the status of an elected official can’t protect themselves, then how should others feel?, Omar wonders.
He explains that the police are investigating but have told him they cannot provide him with additional security at his office.
Imagine if a white German politician was attacked by a migrant or refugee, he says, implying that security forces would do more in such cases.
Berlin police did not respond to a request for comment.
Hate crimes have risen dramatically in Europe since the October 7 attack which claimed the lives of approximately 1,200 Israelis and the aftermath Israeli invasion of Gaza in which approximately 14,800 Palestinians were killed, with recorded anti-Semitic incidents increasing by 1,240% in London and a sharp rise seen in France and Germany.
Official figures show a significantly smaller rise in anti-Muslim incidents in Britain and are patchy for the other two countries.
In particular, the full extent of the attacks and hostility against individuals and mosques, including children being targeted at school, is not being recorded, according to the people contacted by Reuters, some of whom asked not to be named for fear of reprisals.
The downgrading of these incidents is also present among the victims of anti-Semitism, according to Jewish organizations and leaders in these three countries.
Zara Mohammed, general secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain, said the government’s vocabulary – such as labeling Palestinian protests “hate marches” – had made the fight against anti-Semitism and for Muslim or Palestinian rights a no-winner’s game. and losers in some people’s minds.
Ministers are really reckless, these meaningless culture wars, pitting one community against another is not helping at all and is also very divisive and dangerous, she adds.
The British government did not respond to a query about the official use of such vocabulary.
The sense of vulnerability among Europe’s Muslims has been further heightened by the election victory last week of far-right Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, who has called for a ban on the Koran and mosques in his country.
In the US, there have been murderous incidents against Palestinians since October 7.
At the Ibn Ben Badis mosque in Nanterre, Paris, elderly worshipers are afraid to attend morning prayers when it is still dark, two worshipers there said, following a threat to set fire to the mosque at the end of October by a possibly far-right extremist.
Rashid Abdouni, the mosque’s president, said the request for extra police protection was not met. According to him, the local police patrolled the area but did not have the necessary funds. Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Do I want my daughter to grow up in this climate?” wonders 42-year-old Khalil Raboun, a Franco-Moroccan taxi driver speaking after Friday prayers outside the mosque.
Source: News Beast
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