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New U.S. Strategy Mistakenly Places Islamophobia on a Par with Antisemitism
(MEMRI) Col. (ret.) Yigal Carmon - On May 25, 2023, the Biden administration published the first-ever U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, that includes several instances of placing Islamophobia on a par with antisemitism. Hatred of Muslims is indeed a real phenomenon in the U.S. However, antisemitism cannot be put together with Islamophobia. Antisemitism is manifested in action. In November 2022, FBI Director Christopher Wray said that 63% of religious hate crimes are motivated by antisemitism, despite the fact that Jews only comprise 2% of the U.S. population. Moreover, many Muslim clerics in America preach antisemitism and call for violence against Jews. The MEMRI archives contain dozens of videos of American imams calling for the annihilation of the Jews. Had those who authored the new strategy familiarized themselves with this reality, they would not have made the mistake of putting the victim and the victimizer together in a document dedicated to countering antisemitism. The writer, former counter-terrorism advisor to two Israeli prime ministers, is founder and president of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).