Antisemitism has exploded in frequency since the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Yet, it is often lately paired with Islamophobia, though the two differ dramatically in frequency and substance.
Jew-hatred is a highly prevalent, historically well-documented and well-defined set of behaviors, while Islamophobia is a relatively new phenomenon, much less frequent and so weaponized that some consider the very concept a hoax.
Case in point: After more than 18 chaotic months of pro-Hamas protesters bullying and blocking Jewish students’ access to campus, Harvard University, on April 29, finally issued a report on the school’s and radicals’ misdeeds, titled: “Presidential task force on combating antisemitism and anti-Israel bias.”
Bizarrely, that same day, Harvard University released another report: “Presidential task force on combating anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian bias.”
Why did we need two simultaneous reports on two unrelated problems with two dramatically different measures of magnitude, incidence and character?
Indeed, Muslim and Arab students at Harvard are not bullied, nor are they denied access, nor do their professors demean them for their ethnicity, nor are they victims of screaming invectives in mass protests against their homelands.
Moreover, while only a tiny few classes in Harvard’s curricula address Israel favorably, its catalog teems with pro-Palestinian, openly anti-Israel courses. Finally, ironically, a preponderance of campus activities attacking Harvard’s Jewish students’ rights are themselves led by Muslims and Arabs.
The same disproportionate attention to “Islamophobia” was paid by the Biden administration in April 2024, when it simultaneously formed the “National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism” and a sister task force to counter “Islamophobia and Anti-Arab Hate.”
Though certainly hatred of Jews, and other religious or ethnic groups, is deplorable, the actions of Harvard and the Biden administration seem to indicate that antisemitism and Islamophobia are problems of equal import and impact. In fact, antisemitic hate crimes make up a majority of all religious-based hate crimes nationally and are nearly eight times more frequent than anti-Muslim hate crimes.
This disparity in frequency is also matched by profound differences in characteristics. Antisemitism is recognized as a dangerous, irrational hatred of the Jewish people, whose values form the foundation of Western civilization. Research shows that Muslim societies harbor some of the world’s most virulent anti-Jewish attitudes, as well as a determination by radical Islamists to destroy the Jewish state.
Islamophobia is a relatively new concept, which critics convincingly argue is generally not a hatred at all, but rather a term used by social, political and media elites to whitewash the avowed intentions of Islamists to wage jihad globally.
Hate incidents against Muslims are minuscule compared to antisemitic attacks. According to the FBI, antisemitic incidents made up 68% of religion-based hate crimes in 2023, numbering 1,832. Meanwhile, anti-Muslim incidents accounted for just 9%, some 236. In other words, antisemitic crimes in the United States were eight times more frequent. The trend is similar in other countries. For example, relative to population, anti-Jewish hate crimes in the United Kingdom were 12 times higher than anti-Muslim hate crimes, a rate of 121 per 10,000 of the Jewish population compared to 10 per 10,000 of the Muslim population.
Progressives believe any mention of antisemitism must be counterposed to “Islamophobia.” The National Lawyers’ Guild, a far-left, self-described alternative to the American Bar Association, responded to the October 2018 mass shooting at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha Synagogue—the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history—by issuing a “Statement against antisemitism and Islamophobia” that condemned not only the massacre, but also the Israeli government and its “virulent Islamophobia,” basically condemning antisemitism while simultaneously committing it.
Many media can’t mention antisemitism without also invoking Islamophobia, though the two crimes are unrelated, and the incidence of the latter is only a small fraction of the former. Examples include a Guardian headline reading, “Islamophobia and antisemitism on rise in U.S. amid Israel-Hamas war,” and a Reuters headline saying, “U.S. antisemitic Islamophobic incidents surge with war, advocates say.”
Reasons for antisemitism and Islamophobia are worlds apart. Yet we see headlines like “Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia are equally wrong” in The Washington Post. Antisemitism is generally the hatred of a people, not a religion. Hence, Nazis didn’t equivocate; Jewish converts to Christianity were identified as Jews and ruthlessly persecuted. Likewise, non-religious Jewish university students are attacked for being “Zionists.” In contrast, no one considers Islam an ethnicity or speaks of “Muslim blood.”
While no doubt some cases of anti-Muslim hate are products of irrational bigotry, the term “Islamophobia” connotes a fear of the religion. Yet, Islam’s detractors generally don’t fear the religion or its peaceful adherents, but rather fear and criticize Islamist extremism, which evidence suggests is responsible for a large majority of terrorist attacks worldwide. A “bias” against a religion based on empirical behavior is no more “racist” than a bias against communism or fascism.
Furthermore, it seems the motive behind the false equivalence of antisemitism and Islamophobia is to dilute and minimize today’s rampant Jew-hatred. Thus, the media can’t talk about massive antisemitism by itself—political correctness requires that they counterpose it with an “equal” evil done to the enemies of Jews.
Research shows that antisemitism is most prevalent in Muslim societies. The Anti-Defamation League’s Global 100 Index notes that the overwhelmingly Muslim Middle East and North Africa is the most antisemitic region on earth. Together, the West Bank and Gaza Strip display the highest amount of antisemitism, with 97% incidence, while Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country in the world, is a close second. Yet media and leftists are quick to pair talk of antisemitism with Islamophobia, and they rarely mention the antisemitism that infects Islam worldwide. Nor do they mention that Jews are almost never implicated in anti-Muslim or anti-Arab hate crimes.
Attempts to compare antisemitism and Islamophobia are a hoax. Antisemitism is a centuries-old racist hatred that ranks among the most frequent hate crimes worldwide. In contrast, “Islamophobia” is a new and relatively minor occurrence, and frequently a label leveled to whitewash Jew-hatred, while deflecting criticism of Islam and Islamism.
Criticizing empirical Islamist behaviors, goals and values is not racism. Defenders of Jews, Israel and truth have every right and reason to expose fake accusations of “Islamophobia.”
Originally published by Facts and Logic About the Middle East (FLAME).