New Delhi, India

The Joe Biden administration has warned schools and colleges in the United States that the nation is witnessing an "alarming rise" in antisemitism and Islamophobia. The authorities have urged educational institutions to take immediate action against the rising threats and harassment.

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In a letter on Tuesday (Nov 7), the US Education Department said that in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war, there was a "renewed urgency" to fight discrimination against students.

"Antisemitism, Islamophobia and all other forms of hatred go against everything we stand for as a nation," said Education Secretary Miguel Cardona in a statement.

However, hate crimes, unfortunately, are nothing new in the United States. 

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In the wake of history-changing events like the 9/11 terror attack, the Covid pandemic and now the Israel-Hamas war, the 'land of opportunity' as it was once called becomes the hot bed for Xenophobia — the fear or dislike of anything which is perceived as being foreign or strange.

Aftermath of Israel-Hamas war

In the wake of the ongoing war in the Middle East, the US has seen an "alarming rise" in cases of antisemitism and Islamophobia, as per the Biden administration.

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In a recent statement released on the 25th Anniversary of the International Religious Freedom Act, President Joe Biden said: "Here at home, we are facing a rising tide of antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of discrimination that are fuelling violence and hate across our country."

Also read | NYU students seen tearing down posters of young Israeli children kidnapped by Hamas. Watch!

However, the US President said that "in the wake of Hamas' brutal terrorist assault against Israel," they are "working with community partners to identify, prevent, and disrupt any threats that could harm the Jewish, Muslim, Arab American, Palestinian American, or any other communities."

After Hamas militants launched their attack on October 7, incidents of hate crimes started cropping up very rapidly.

One case that left the world shocked involved a six-year-old child, who became the victim of a senseless hate crime borne out of fear.

Also read | 'Mom, I'm fine': 6-year-old Muslim boy's heartbreaking last words before dying in hate crime

Soon after the war started, Wadea al-Fayoume, a Palestinian-American Muslim boy, was stabbed 26 times with a military-style knife in his home in Illinois, US. 

The motive of the crime? Hatred.

The assailant, Wadea's landlord, 71-year-old Joseph M Czuba reportedly entered the little boy's family home yelling: "You Muslims must die!".

In the attack, the child's 32-year-old mother also suffered several stabbing wounds and had to be hospitalised.

Similarly, there have been reports of several disturbing spillovers and prejudices against Muslims and Jews. This includes reports of university students beating up their classmates, tearing down posters of Israeli children taken hostage, and more.

Are these once in a blue moon kinds of incidents?

Unfortunately, no. Modern history has already been witness to two such major episodes, where a particular race or religion saw widespread hatred: the Covid pandemic and the 9/11 attacks.

Asian community becomes the target

In 2020, the world came face to face with a dangerous common enemy: the coronavirus. 

An invisible ailment that targeted our bodies from the inside forced the global population to quarantine themselves from the world. 

Millions lost their lives as humanity everywhere grappled with the rapidly strengthening foe, whose origins remain unclear even now.

Origin theories point the finger at China and postulate that the virus which was first recorded in the nation's Wuhan is either a laboratory leak — accidental or intentional, or that it is a zoonotic disease that jumped species in Wuhan's wet markets. 

Also read | Rise in hate crime against Asian-Americans amid pandemic: US senators

During the almost two years when the pandemic was at its peak, in the US, as per the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), crimes against the Asian American community saw a significant rise.

Between 2019 and 2020, there was a 77 per cent increase in hate crimes against Asian people living in the US.

Furthermore, during the period from March 2020 to June 2021, more than 9,000 anti-Asian hate incidents were reported, as per advocacy group Stop AAPI Hate Center. This included verbal harassment, including being called things like the "Chinese Coronavirus". 

As per a Health Affairs report, these numbers are not a just reflection of the incidents as hate crimes frequently go unreported. A 2021 poll by Axios/Ipsos, called the 'Hard Truth Civil Rights & Social Justice poll' found that 82 per cent of Asian Americans agreed that as a group they've faced discrimination because of the coronavirus pandemic. More than 57 per cent said they often or sometimes feel unsafe in public.

Muslims, Arabs and Islamophobia

After the horrific 9/11 attack in the US, there was a hate crime backlash that targeted people of Arab and Muslim origins. Even Sikhs, South Asians and those perceived to belong to be Arab or Muslim also faced the adverse response.

These incidents were marked by ferocity and included murder, physical assaults, arson, vandalism of places of worship and other property damage, death threats and public harassment. 

Also read | US antisemitic, Islamophobic incidents surge with war, advocates say

As per the Human Rights Watch, most of these violent incidents occurred in the first months after September 11. FBI data shows a seventeen-fold increase in anti-Muslim hate crimes. 

What does this data tell us? Does the United States — the dream destination of many from developing nations — able to fully grasp the concept of tolerance?