Climate of Hate: Muslim Americans Face Rise In Islamophobia

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: And our next guest, Palestinian American journalist Laila El-Haddad, is also concerned about the term genocide and what might be happening. She is part of a lawsuit that’s been filed against the Biden administration, which alleges that it has failed to prevent it. She argues that the government’s reluctance to call for a ceasefire is not only hurting Gazans on the ground, but also Arab and Muslim populations, like in America, who are subject to heightening Islamophobia. And she’s joining Hari Sreenivasan to discuss her experiences in this highly volatile climate.

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HARI SREENIVASAN, CORRESPONDENT: Christiane, thanks. Laila El-Haddad, thanks so much for joining us. You along with a group of Palestinian rights activists and residents of Gaza are now in a lawsuit that’s filed against the Biden administration for failing to “prevent an unfolding genocide.” Tell us about the lawsuit if you can.

LAILA EL-HADDAD, PALESTINIAN-AMERICAN JOURNALIST: That’s right. I’m one of many plaintiffs in this lawsuit against President Biden. Secretary of State Blinken and Secretary of Defense Austin. And it’s just one — for me, it’s just one small thing that I’m doing that I promised my family that I owe to them, both my family members, five direct family members who were killed in an Israeli attack on their home with U.S. provided weapons that I paid for with my taxes. It’s something small that I can do for them as well as for the surviving family members in Gaza City right now to hold my government to account in failing to prevent this ongoing genocide against my people.

SREENIVASAN: Now, at the time that we were having this conversation, the Biden administration has not responded yet to this lawsuit, but President Biden has said repeatedly in the past that Israel has a right to defend itself from a terror attack. Why are you saying that the U.S. is failing to uphold international law?

EL-HADDAD: Well, it’s — the biggest burden, which — burden of proof, which is proving intent to commit genocide has been proven for us in numerous statements by Israeli officials themselves. And our government here, the United States, has been abetting that, abetting the unfolding genocide that has already — whose intent has already been proven by way of diplomatic cover, by way of $14 billion in aid and by way of rhetoric as well. So, you know, we have the military support, the diplomatic support, and so on, the political support. And so, that is what makes this circumstance — this specific instance, so unique, so different than other, instances where the United States has provided unconditional support for Israel.

SREENIVASAN: Did you have an opportunity to sit down with the Biden administration? I heard that you declined an invitation. Is that right?

EL-HADDAD: That’s right. There was two separate. I was asked to participate in a round table with Arab — members of the Arab-American and Palestinian-American community in the State Department. I was also asked to participate in a — later on at the height of the attacks on Gaza at the White House, which I declined, because frankly, it got to the point where it was feeling performative and not really bearing any real results. It was just something the administration was doing to be able to allay fears and say, we hear you, we feel you, but they don’t. And it’s — the message has been delivered loud and clear that they’ve lost our votes in 2024. And these efforts, frankly, are falling flat amongst the Arab and Palestinian and Muslim communities in the United States.

SREENIVASAN: I know that you met with Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in a setting, in a forum, I wonder what were you able to say to him that you thought might have an effect?

EL-HADDAD: This was very early on in Israel’s assault on Gaza. And really, I was hoping to use it as an opportunity to convey to him how I felt as a — how we felt as a Palestinian and a Muslim community. I wanted to convey to him — I promised my cousins and my family in Gaza that I would convey their reality to him. My main message was that all we’re hearing — all I’m hearing is that Palestinians are barbarians and baby killers and the unhumans (ph) to which the law of war did not apply and that my administration was OK with that. That was the message I wanted to convey to him. And I asked him directly, what’s the benchmark? How many Palestinians and how many children and women need to die before you are OK with finally calling for a ceasefire? And, of course, we discussed the fact that this was not self-defense when 75 percent of the victims have been women and children. That is not only grossly disproportionate, that’s reprehensible to call itself defense and insist that there’s no red lines for Israel is morally repugnant. So, those are really the messages we conveyed. And again, the main ask was the ceasefire.

SREENIVASAN: Why do you think it is that calling for a ceasefire or a halt of hostilities or really however you want to phrase it, because even it seems the phrasing matters, why has that inherently become a political act or one that admits defeat for one side or the other?

EL-HADDAD: I keep saying that ceasefire has somehow become a dirty word that you see our politicians literally engaging in, you know, verbal acrobatics just to be able to avoid saying it, right? And the message that we keep getting from them, from different legislators that I’ve personally met with and officials, is that, oh, it’s going to be bad optics, right? It’s going to make it look like, you know, we’re caving in And, you know, Biden even use that word. He said, we, he didn’t see — he didn’t say, excuse me, Israel. Does that make, as he’s suggesting, that that the United States is admitting that the United States is complicit in this? Who knows. But the fact remains that they consider a call for a ceasefire to be bad optics as though somehow Hamas would be winning, that they would be caving. But the reality is the — a large number of Israelis themselves are now calling for a ceasefire, coming out and protesting, let alone, you know, Americans as well, because there’s no winners in this. There’s no winners in war.

SREENIVASAN: You know, so, I wonder if, look, you’re an author, you know the power of words and language. And considering the emphasis you’re putting on the way that the administration is talking about Palestinians and about the conflict, do condemnations matter and does it matter if President Biden condemns the actions of Israel or if you condemn the actions of Hamas?

EL-HADDAD: I think it sends a strong message, but I think what’s more important again is actions, you know, actions to me speak louder than words. And the actions of our government so far have been subpar to nonexistent. We’ve only heard over and over again that your lives as Palestinians simply matter less to us than the lives of Israelis. And again, that messaging has a direct impact on our communities here in the United States.

SREENIVASAN: So, should Arab-American, Muslim-American organizations be condemning the actions of Hamas if they want the same condemnation back from the Biden administration towards the actions of Israel? Does — do those messages matters? I guess what I’m asking.

EL-HADDAD: Our communities have always had to assume the burden of — before even being asked about their loved ones and their families have always had to assume the burden of condemnation. We see — we’ve seen this happen over and over and over and over again. Not only in 9/11, but long before. And I think the question that we need to ask is — you know, and I should say, and they’ve always come out and said, none of us condone violence. Human life is precious. But that’s all anyone ever wants to hear from us. They’re not interested — again, they’re not interested in our lives, our people, our rights. They’re just hearing — they’re just interested in hearing us condemn over and over —

SREENIVASAN: Yes.

EL-HADDAD: — over again, just sort of condition us into condemning. And I think those two things should not be conditional.

SREENIVASAN: Recently, the organization CAIR, C-A-I-R, which stands for the Council on American Islamic Relations, had put out some information that is quite distressing. I just want to cite a couple of things that they’ve received more than 1,200 calls for help. This is in the context of the war that’s happening right now, and that’s a 216 percent increase over the previous year. Essentially, people are calling into this organization talking about anti-Arab bias in their lives. And what’s your reaction to that? Have you been experiencing this?

EL-HADDAD: Unfortunately, it doesn’t surprise me. I have personally experienced this. I, myself — along with my daughter, I was attending a rally in Rockville, Maryland last week where — a very peaceful rally, calling for a cease fire, where directly adjacent to us was a very vocal vitriolic counter protest that were shouting at us. And as you can see, I’m very visibly Muslim. Things like animals, barbarians, we’re going to take your heads go back home. Murderous Muslims will kill your brothers. You’re not welcome here and on and on. My own daughter experienced this when she was walking in Washington, D.C. a few weeks ago. She also wears hijab and somebody yelled at her baby murderer. She has faced significant pushback at her school here in Howard County, Maryland as well in trying to organize something as simple as a walkout to call for a ceasefire. I’ve received hate mail in my actual mailbox. Calling on Israel to kill every expletive, I don’t want to say, who gives birth — basically any woman who gives birth to future rats and, threatening words, saying to kill them all. This has become, unfortunately, the new normal, or I should say abnormal in our lives. We remain vigilant. But the unfortunate reality is at a time when I should be grieving my family — and I’ve lost several family members in Gaza, direct family, as well as dozens of extended family — I’m having to look over my back. And, you know, while it doesn’t surprise me, the real problem here again is the way that the administration has gone about this. And it’s a direct result, I would say, of the dehumanizing and racist rhetoric that Israel has been using to justify its massacres in Gaza that then our administration here has essentially been promoting regurgitating a lot of these lies. And that has a direct impact effect on not only Muslim- Americans and Palestinians, but as well as Arab-Americans and a lot of people of color as well, who are none of the above.

SREENIVASAN: Why do you think it is that Muslim Americans end up being the targets?

EL-HADDAD: I think the unfortunate reality is that while hate attacks and hate rhetoric of any kind is reprehensible, and I want to say that loud and clear, it’s my feeling that Palestinian, Arab, Muslim lives matter less to this administration and are therefore not highlighted, as much than non- Palestinian, Arab and Muslim lives. ?I think that a lot of it has to do with othering, right? It’s this idea also that, you know, we’re not a monolithic group. When I say, we, often what happens is when you have something, when you have — when you see something like what happened to Gaza and when you see this dehumanizing racist rhetoric being rolled out by the Israelis, that then has a direct impact on media coverage and disinformation that is then repeated by our administration, that has a direct impact on our communities here. And our communities could be Palestinian, Muslim or Christian, it could be Arab, non-Palestinian, and they could be brown, people of color who aren’t even Muslim at all. I’ve had a lot of my friends from the South Asian community here in Maryland who are sick and others, who have been at the receiving end of hate attacks as well. And so, it’s this othering, I think, that contributes to this reality that you mentioned.

SREENIVASAN: You were in the United States after 9/11, and it seems that we’re — I’m going over some of those same roads.

EL-HADDAD: That’s right. I was here during 9/11. I was actually in Boston and I was a graduate student. And they were terrifying times. I won’t lie, especially, for Muslims who were not U.S. citizens, it was difficult for everyone. But I felt particularly vulnerable as a stateless Palestinian and was myself detained and threatened with deportation to where I have no idea at some point while I was pregnant with my son in Logan Airport. I’ll never forget those days ever. And I tell that story to my children over and over to teach them to be resilient, to teach them to speak out, to teach them to seek due process. I actually filed complaints against the FBI and that bore fruit, to teach them never to give up. And I — the message I give them, especially my daughter is the struggle is long and it is real and it is necessary. So, don’t give up and don’t get too comfortable because you have to not only speak out on behalf of yourself and your people, but on anyone who is the victim of a grave injustice and — of which there are many that our government here has perpetrated. And so, that’s, in summary, the message I give her without victimizing her in any way or giving her this mentality that she’s somehow a victim. But to be vigilant and to be alert and to be vocal and to advocate for herself and for others.

SREENIVASAN: You’ve called this time period your daughter’s 9/11. What do you mean by that?

EL-HADDAD: I think this really hit home for her for the first time, meaning what was happening to Gaza and to her family in Gaza and how that was directly related to herself here as a young Palestinian, visibly Muslim-American. And so, I call it her coming of age moment in the sense that she was suddenly in the throes of all of this, at the receiving end of hateful vitriol that was being hurled at her at the receiving end of intimidating tactics as she was trying to do something as simple as, you know, call for an end to hostilities. And she couldn’t believe that this was happening and I — you know, I didn’t want to tell her, well, welcome to the club, but that’s why I call it her coming of age moment. She suddenly realized this is real and there are real threats and, you know, people will say things to her that are mean and hateful and try to silence her when she simply tries to speak out in support of freedom and equality for her people. So, this is the unfortunate reality we live in, but again, it’s a moment that I hope she will learn from and, you know, a teachable moment. It’s unfortunate that it had to come in this way. And I don’t wish that upon anyone, obviously.

SREENIVASAN: Palestinian author and activist Laila El-Haddad, thanks so much for joining us.

EL-HADDAD: It was my pleasure. Thank you.