U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday released a long-awaited strategy to combat anti-Muslim and anti-Arab hate, which has surged since the Israel-Gaza war. The 64-page document outlines over 100 executive actions, aiming to reduce discrimination and bias. This effort parallels a strategy to combat antisemitism released by the White House in September 2023.
In a foreword, Biden condemned the murder of six-year-old Palestinian-American Wadea Al-Fayoume, who was stabbed alongside his mother in a hate attack. He called such acts “heinous” and stressed that Muslims and Arabs deserve dignity and equal rights, adding that discriminatory policies harm all Americans.
The plan, unveiled weeks before the inauguration of former President Donald Trump, marks Biden’s continued push against discrimination. Trump, during his first term, imposed a travel ban targeting some majority-Muslim countries—a policy Biden rescinded on his first day in office. Critics, such as the Council on American Islamic Relations, dismissed the new strategy as insufficient, citing the lack of changes to federal watchlists and failure to address the Gaza conflict, which they say fuels Islamophobia.
Jim Zogby of the Arab American Institute praised the inclusion of anti-Arab hate in the strategy but expressed concern that a Trump administration might abandon it. Trump has pledged to ban entry to those questioning Israel’s right to exist and revoke visas for foreign students accused of antisemitism.
The strategy comes amid heightened tensions on U.S. campuses after Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, with human rights advocates warning of rising antisemitism, Islamophobia, and anti-Arab hate. While the Trump transition team did not comment on the strategy, Biden emphasized that combating hate is a moral imperative for all Americans.
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