Washington state sees rise in anti-Arab, anti-Jewish hate incidents amid Israel-Hamas War
The Council on American Islamic Relations’ Washington state chapter (CAIR-Washington) has tracked 17 incidents of Arabs and Muslims being harassed or losing their jobs in the past month.
Separately, the Anti-Defamation League of the Pacific Northwest reports there have been 53 incidents of violence, harassment, and vandalism targeting Jewish, Muslim, and Palestinian communities in Washington state since October. Twenty-seven of those have been antisemitic.
The incidents are part of a larger trend of growing antisemitism and Islamophobia nationwide and around the world since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
CAIR-Washington spokesperson Katie Walker said the 17 bias incident reports the group has received since Oct. 7 reflect a more than a 400% increase since this time last year. The cases include online harassment against people who practice Islam or are perceived as Arab, and who have expressed sympathy for the growing humanitarian crisis of the Palestinians.
“The level of rhetoric and dehumanization that’s been happening in this past month is pretty extreme. And folks within our Muslim communities are saying it feels as bad as, if not worse than after 9/11,” Walker said.
The harassment is just words for now, she said. But CAIR-Washington’s lawyers have put victims in contact with the FBI because of increasing concerns. One of those people is a doctor from the Seattle area. She practices Islam and her family is from Egypt.
