The European Islamophobia Report 2023 found that Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza has functioned as a ‘geopolitical catalyst of anti-Muslim racism in Europe’.
A report on Saturday has revealed that Israel’s ongoing military actions in Gaza have led to a significant increase in Islamophobia across Europe.
The European Islamophobia Report 2023 looked at anti-Muslim sentiment in 28 European countries, finding that the war on the besieged Palestinian enclave had “functioned as a geopolitical catalyst of anti-Muslim racism in Europe”.
So, The New Arab is a private publication funded from Qatar. The report itself is apparently sponsored by the Turkish state[1], which is something I found out when I tried to find the website of the ominous “Leopold Weiss Institute, Austria”. (It doesn’t exist because apparently the institute is fake…?)
Is there a good reason for this to be posted here?
[1]
https://www.meforum.org/why-turkiye-sponsors-a-fake-academic-report-on
(I am quoting them here for the claim that Leopold Weiss Institute appears to be a sham, but completely agreeing that this source is problematic too.)
That’s a dubious source you got there, totally criticised for anti-islamic approaches.
According to their page:
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The Middle East Forum, a think tank founded in 1994 by Daniel Pipes, promotes American interests in the Middle East and protects Western values from Middle Eastern threats.
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they also have an Islamic Watch and and an Israel Victory Project.
In honesty, I don’t know the source, and you’re right, they seem highly politically motivated. But, and that’s still a valid point, it did one thing: Give a reasonable explanation why I couldn’t find the website of the Leopold Weiss Institute. Or does the Leopold Weiss Institute actually exist?
An organization under this name does exist, but seems to not have a website or other public presence. Of course this does raise legitimate questions. However the author of the meforum text even provided the evidence for the existence of a registered organization on his own website.
The author of the text on the meforum Soeren Kern even published the registration information on his website
Quite honestly, “Austrian Institute without a public presence whose main contributor moved back to Turkey” does still smell like a front group to me.
And ftr, none of that means that I think Islamophobia doesn’t exist or hasn’t increased.
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To add to the problems of the meforum. An extreme rise in Islamophobia is also reported by the UN:
https://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2024/03/un-experts-warn-islamophobia-rising-alarming-levels
For the US an extreme rise in Islamophobic attacks since October 2023 is reported:
The EU reports a steady increase of Islamophobia for the time pre October 2023:
For the UK an 236 % increase between 2023 and 2024 is reported by the UK NGO Islamophobia Response Unit
https://www.theiru.org.uk/increase-in-islamophobia-from-january-2024-to-april-2024/
For Germany the CLAIM-Allianz also reports a surge in Islamophobic attacks since October 2023:
https://www.claim-allianz.de/aktuelles/news/pressemitteilung-gewaltvolle-uebergriffe-drohungen-diskriminierungen-zahl-antimuslimischer-vorfaelle-bundesweit-erneut-gestiegen/
https://www.claim-allianz.de/presse/pressemitteilung-antimuslimische-uebergriffe-und-diskriminierung-in-deutschland-2023-mehr-als-fuenf-antimuslimische-vorfaelle-pro-tag/I would be surprised if similar findings would not be there for other European countries, whose languages i cannot speak unfortunately. There is a direct correlation between October 7 and Israels war on Gaza and the rise of Islamophobia, including violent attacks on Muslims or people perceived as Muslims. It should be of strong concern, that the meforum is trying to downplay this, as it appears to have extensive funding and is more well connected through other lobby groups. It is bewildering, that such organizations, who advocate for oppression and violence as “solution” are allowed to operate in Europe.
The meforum is a radical pro Israel lobby group that wants the military defeat/annihilation of Palestinians. Their website proudly boasts a program called “Israel Victory Project”
The Israel Victory Project steers U.S. and Israeli policy toward backing an Israel victory over the Palestinians to end the conflict by convincing the Palestinians of their defeat in their century-long war against Israel. The project offers general policy guidelines does not deal with the specifics of resolution; whatever one’s ideas about final status, Palestinian defeat enhances their prospects. Our motto: First recognition, then negotiation. First victory, then peace.
Only when Palestinians end their nihilism and rejectionism can they build a polity, economy, society, and culture worthy of their skills. Thus, is a defeat benefits Palestinians even more than Israelis.
The project focuses on decision-makers, opinion-shapers, and publics in Israel and the United States with an eye to reviving victory as a concept.
Note that the emphasized statement follows an extremely dehumanizing cynicism like it was argued by European colonialists as they committed genocides all over Africa, the Americas and Asia.
The Leopold Weiss Institute is named after Muhammad Asad
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Asad
Muhammad Asad[a] (born Leopold Weiss; 2 July 1900 – 20 February 1992) was an Austro-Hungarian-born Pakistani Muslim polymath. He worked as a journalist, traveler, writer, political theorist, and diplomat.
The university of Vienna reports an address in Vienna for a registered organization under that name, founded in 2007 with the state goal to “research contemporary Muslim life and thought”.
The author of the text on the meforum Soeren Kern even published the registration information on his website
https://soerenkern.com/pdfs/islam/lwiwien.pdf
The head of the organization in the registration entry is Farid Hafez, who is mentioned in the meforum text too. As the meforum text admits. Hafez lived in Austria at the time. The allegations of terror affiliation made by the meforum text are absurd though, as a judge cleared Hafez, like the text itselfs admits.
To conclude: There is some legitimate questions regarding the connection to the Turkish government. However the meforum is an islamophobe lobby group, that tries to spread Islamophobia and call for Israels military “victory” over the Palestinians, which given the reality of the already existing occupation only leaves the ethnic cleansing or genocide of Palestinians. the meforum is part of a network to spread exactly the hate, whose existence and increase as a part of Israels political strategy, they try to deny.
