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Islamist Antisemitism in the U.S.

(Institute for National Security Studies-Tel Aviv University) Yehudit Barsky and Ehud Rosen - Over the past decade, American Islamist groups, such as those affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, have developed "red-green" alliances with American progressives to recast themselves as advocates of human and minority rights. While Islamists in the U.S. frequently purport to be the "voice" of the Muslim community, Islamists do not represent the majority of American Muslims. A 2017 Pew study revealed that the majority of American Muslims do not attend mosque weekly, 64% believe there is more than one way to interpret Islam, and 52% believe that traditional understandings of Islam must be reinterpreted. In 2019, four violent followers of al-Qaeda, Hamas, and ISIS were arrested for plotting four separate terror attacks, including plans to bomb and shoot at two synagogues, bomb an area targeting Jews, and to shoot at Jewish and pro-Israel demonstrators. In January 2022 a terrorist incident at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, was carried out by Malik Faisal Akram, a British Islamist. In November 2022, the FBI arrested Omar Alkattoul, a young radicalized Muslim, for threatening to attack a synagogue and Jewish people. The mainstreaming of Islamist-oriented groups, political figures, and like-minded extremists who promote antisemitism poses an emerging political and societal challenge. These groups have energized the use of blatant antisemitism directed at American Jews among their political allies. They have increasingly sought to reject the participation of mainstream American Jewish organizations in the public discourse.
2023-04-20 00:00:00
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