Photo courtesy of Felton Davis via Wikipedia Commons.
By Max Rhoads ‘25
Opinion Editor
Content warning: This article discusses Islamophobia, murder of a minor and racialized violence.
On Oct. 11, Wadea Al-Fayoume, a 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy, was stabbed to death by Joseph Czuba, his family’s landlord, in a horrific tragedy. His mother was also attacked but survived. Their attacker was reportedly obsessed with coverage of Hamas’ attack on Israel and had begun to associate the actions of Hamas with every Palestinian.
The aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack in Israel has seen a rise in anti-Muslim sentiment. Many Americans believed that the collective punishment of the people of Gaza was justified, conflating Arab and Muslim civilians with terrorism. Within the boundaries of the United States, Palestinian and Muslim-Americans are facing increasing amounts of backlash. The New York Police Department, in particular, has reported an increase in Islamophobic incidents.
Sadly, the association of Arabs — or even just Southwest Asian and North African people — with terrorism is not unique to this current moment. This type of rhetoric can be traced back to the post-9/11 period. Because Al-Qaeda, the group that perpetrated the attacks, had ties to Islam, the American public began to associate Muslims and people they perceived as Muslim, with terrorism.
Anti-Muslim hate crimes increased by 1617% between 2000 and 2001, according to an analysis by The Pew Research Center. According to a 2017 survey conducted by the University of California Berkeley, 80% of Muslim adults reported fearing for their safety as well as that of their families.
In 2016, former President Donald Trump ran on a campaign promise of banning travel to and from Muslim-majority countries under the guise of stopping terrorism. While the travel ban was only meant to last 90 days before being renewed, the fact that he won while touting an anti-Muslim campaign promise shows how deep Islamophobia runs in the United States.
Another possible contributor to anti-Muslim stereotypes is Orientalism, a concept that dates back to the era of European colonization. Orientalism creates a false dichotomy between the “civilized” West — especially Europe — and the “untamed” East — Asia, North Africa, anywhere east of Europe.
When looking at the Southwest Asian and North African regions, the countries are often viewed in the Western imagination as interchangeable, “backward” places with “uncivilized” inhabitants. This idea was used to justify colonialism in the 19th century, as well as U.S. intervention in the region in the late 20th and 21st centuries.
Really, what all of it boils down to is white supremacy. Because of America’s history of white supremacy, when we see a group that is visibly non-white, we are more likely to make assumptions and sweeping generalizations about them.
“Really, what all of it boils down to is white supremacy. Because of America’s history of white supremacy, when we see a group that is visibly non-white, we are more likely to make assumptions and sweeping generalizations about them. ”
In this current moment, we need to be conscious of Islamophobia and Islamophobic rhetoric. Just as people associated Muslims with Al-Qaeda and the Taliban post-9/11 and ISIS during the war in Syria, some people are associating Muslims — and Palestinians as a whole — with Hamas. It is important to make a distinction and think critically about the messages we are taking in.
It is this Islamophobic rhetoric that has led to the death of Wadea Al-Fayoume and so many others.