In the aftermath of the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, an uptick in Islamophobic comments and sentiment has been observed, in both Israel itself and countries all over the world.
On 9 October, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant referred to Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip as "human animals", following their massacre of 1200 Israelis, sparking controversy.
Hundreds of far-right Israelis reportedly tried to break into Palestinian students' dormatories at the Netanya Academic College in Israel while chanting "Death to Arabs". Reports of the students instigating the mob's reactions were ruled out by police. Others facing suspensions from their educational instructions after being accused of "support for terrorism" due to social media posts expressing support for civilians in Gaza.
Asia
India
On 1 November 2023, during a rally, Chief Minister of Uttar PradeshYogi Adityanath said, "The solution to the Taliban is Bajrang Wali's mace. We are seeing how Israel is currently working to crush the Taliban mentality in Ghaza. They are taking the correct measures to ensure their targets are finished."
Europe
France
In November 2023, the French Muslim Council stated that it had received threats in the wake of the October 7 attacks. The council also claimed that 14 mosques had been vandalized.
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, Member of Parliament Zarah Sultana called for a ceasefire, to which Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told her to call Hamas and the Houthis to deescalate the situation. Sultana responded shortly after that, "This is an Islamophobic trope – as if by being Muslim, I am responsible for Hamas and the Houthis." In February 2024, hate crimes against Muslims in the UK had risen by 140 percent compared to the year prior. Tell MAMA reported that anti-Muslim hate incidents had risen by 335 percent since the start of the conflict. In March 2024, the UK government pledged $150m dollars for additional security for Muslim sites following a surge of anti-Muslim attacks.
Germany
On 30 April 2024, Human Rights Watch released a report which said that the government of Germany was "falling short in protecting Muslims and people perceived to be Muslims from racism amid rising incidents of hate and discrimination" and that the "absence of a working definition of anti-Muslim racism and a lack of official data on incidents and of investment in institutional support for victims are among the impediments to an effective response."
North America
United States
On 11 October, a group of pro-Israeli activists were accused of assaulting three Palestinian- and Arab-American men in Brooklyn, New York. According to the NYPD, the assailants shouted anti-Muslim slurs during the attack.
On 31 October, NBC News reported that "The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said that it received 774 requests for help and reports of bias incidents from Muslims across the United States from Oct. 7 to Oct. 24, a 182% jump from any given 16-day stretch last year." On 9 November, CAIR reported that it had received 1,283 complaints in the months time between 7 October and 7 November. On 16 February, CAIR reported that it had received 3,578 hate crime complaints in the last three months of 2023.
On 1 November 2023, the Biden Administration said it was trying to combat the increase in Islamophobia. In March 2024, the U.S. president condemned "the ugly resurgence of Islamophobia in the wake of the devastating war in Gaza".
On 26 November 2023, three Palestinian students were shot in Vermont. The incident was suspected to be a hate crime.
The South Florida Muslim Federation stated the Marriott Coral Springs Hotel and Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale had abruptly cancelled their conference after receiving 100 calls baselessly claiming the organization supported anti-Semitism and terrorism.
Stuart Seldowitz, a former-Obama Administration official, was arrested and criminally charged for harassing a halal food vendor in New York City, but the charges were dropped after a judge instead offered him a 26-week anti-bias programme.
Canada
Assailants threw rocks at a mosque in Mississauga, Ontario, leading Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to call the acts "cowardly, disturbing, and unacceptable". In February 2024, Trudeau condemned vandalism at the Islamic Centre of Cambridge in Ontario.
Oceania
Australia
Between October and December 2023, Australia experienced a surge in both Islamophobia and anti-Semitism following the outbreak of hostilities between Israel and Hamas on 7 October. The Islamophobia Register Australia recorded 133 Islamophobic incidents between 7 October and 6 November 2023, including spitting attacks, threats to mosques and Muslim schools, graffiti, property damage, hate mail, verbal abuse, and online abuse. By comparison, the average number of weekly Islamophobic incidents prior to 7 October averaged 2.5 per week. Executive director of Islamophobia Register Australia, Sharara Attai, said that she believed that the number of Islamophobic incidents was higher than 133 and that Islamophobia and other hate crimes were often under-reported. In addition, the Victorian Police recorded 12 Islamophobic incidents between 7 October and 9 November, resulting in one arrest.
By 2 December, the number of Islamophobic incidents recorded by the Islamophobia Register had risen by 13-fold to 230 incidents over a period of seven weeks. Notable incidents included a young Christian boy being called a "terrorist" for his Palestinian ethnicity, Muslim women having their hijabs yanked off, and Arab and Muslim Australians being doxed, receiving death threats, and dismissed from their jobs for expressing pro-Palestinian viewpoints or attending pro-Palestine rallies.
New Zealand
In mid November 2023, New Zealand's Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) and The Disinformation Project reported a surge in both Islamophobia and anti-Semitism in New Zealand following the 2023 Israel-Hamas war. Islamophobic content surfaced on both social media and gaming platforms. According to Disinformation Project researcher Kate Hannah, Muslims and Palestinians were often conflated with Hamas. Similarly, the DIA's digital violence research team also reported a surge in online content referencing the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings. The Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand (FIANZ) chairperson Abdur Razzaq also reported a surge in online content calling for attacks on mosques following 7 October.
