Hate and harassment: NJ Palestinians, vilified as terrorists, are worried for their safety

Threats to burn down businesses. Harassing phone calls. Cursing at students at a school.

Since war in the Middle East broke out after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, Muslims and Arab Americans in North Jersey are becoming more worried for their safety.

And that was even before the killing of a 6-year-old Muslim boy in the Chicago area, stabbed along with his mother, allegedly by a man angry over the conflict in Israel and Gaza.

Local leaders warned that hateful sentiments have been allowed to fester as Palestinians have been cast in dehumanizing ways, vilified as terrorist supporters and ignored as civilians and victims. Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, they say, their communities have faced a spike in harassment, bullying, assaults and threats.

“American Muslim and Palestinian families here in America are hurting,” said Selaedin Maksut, executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations of New Jersey. “Many have lost loved ones. Many have faced hate at home. Anxiety and fear is high.”

“The CAIR-NJ office has not received this many calls for help since the Muslim ban in 2017,” Maksut added, referring to a Trump-era ban that upended travel and visas for thousands of Muslim travelers.

Palestinian Americans are grappling with devastating loss, with over 6,500 reported killed in Gaza as of Wednesday, including at least 2,700 children, and at least 100 killed in the West Bank since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in Israel. They say they also struggle at home amid a seeming lack of concern and outrage for their suffering and for the backlash many say they are facing.

‘This could have been us’

In Clifton, the Palestinian American Community Center hired a security guard after receiving dozens of harassing phone calls, including one from a man in Texas who boasted of the guns he kept at home.

Police have increased patrols at the center, and staff members are keeping front doors locked and declining to answer anonymous calls, said Basma Bsharat, the center’s Palestine education director.

“Honestly, it has been very scary, especially with the story of Wadea,” said Bsharat, referring to the child killed in Illinois. “My son is 5 years old. This could have been us.”

She blamed a “racist and one-sided narrative that media and politicians have used to spread hate and fear” for fueling a backlash against Muslims.

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In Paterson, Raed Odeh, owner of the Palestine Hair Salon and a deputy mayor in the city, said he contacted police after a man called threatening to burn down his business and family.

In Fair Lawn, parents and children leaving the Noble Leadership Academy, an Islamic K-12 school, were rattled when a man drove by shouting curses and saying he would kill them, said school Principal Amanny Khattab.

In New Jersey, CAIR said it had received 100 requests for help since Oct. 7 — triple what it typically receives.

Incidents are also mounting across the country. In Michigan, a man wrote online that he wanted to gather people to “hunt Palestinians,” and in Brooklyn, Arab Americans were targeted in two separate anti-Palestinian assaults, police said.

Last Thursday, CAIR's national office changed the location of its 29th annual banquet due to thousands of angry calls and threats directed at the organization and the hotel. Anonymous callers threatened to plant bombs in the hotel's parking garage, kill hotel workers in their homes, and storm the hotel in the style of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol if the event moved forward, CAIR said.

The U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights also canceled an upcoming event at a hotel in Houston for safety reasons. In both cases, the hotels were the subject of organized campaigns demanding they withdraw from hosting the events, The Associated Press reported. On Friday, the Zionist Organization of America thanked its activists for efforts that forced the cancellation of the events.

Protesters attacked

Although tensions long existed over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, people say the anger or hostility has grown far worse, reminiscent of the fierce Islamophobia that surged after 9/11. Activists have faced death threats, intimidation and doxing, in which personal information is shared online to encourage harassment. Palestine Legal, an advocacy group, said it responded to nearly 200 such incidents in 11 days.

At a vigil in Jersey City recognizing lives lost in Israel and Gaza, Abeera Saeed said she was approached by a stranger, screaming that she supported the murder of Jewish babies and rape. Saeed believes she was singled out in the crowd because she wears a hijab, an Islamic headscarf.

“It’s such a hopeless and frustrating feeling,” Saeed said. “People were around, so I wasn’t afraid. It is just a disappointing moment in time.”

Protesters have also faced physical attacks. In Lincolnwood, lll., a man fired his gun in the air near where pro-Palestinian protesters gathered on Sunday, and another man fired pepper spray at them. Another protester was struck in a hit and run.

On the same day in Minneapolis, a man reportedly threatened protesters with a box cutter and then drove his car into the crowd. No injuries were reported.

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Across the nation, families are collectively mourning Wadea's killing in Plainfield, Illinois. The child was stabbed 26 times and his mother was seriously wounded on Oct. 15 by their landlord, who shouted, “You Muslims must die," police reported.

The suspect’s wife said “he listens to conservative talk radio on a regular basis” and had become angry listening to segments about the war between Israel and Hamas, according to news reports.

Ahmed Rehab, executive director of CAIR-Chicago, called on officials and media figures to “reconsider fanning an atmosphere of hate and dehumanization, not seen since the aftermath of 9/11, which puts communities at certain risk.”

‘Words matter'

Arab and Muslim leaders say one-sided narratives implying that people who support Palestinians also support Hamas or ignoring decades of oppression against Palestinians are fueling the backlash.

“Words matter, and your words as elected officials have shaped a twisted narrative that has dehumanized and even demonized the Muslim and Palestinian community,” said Maksut, of CAIR-NJ.

In a social media post, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul condemned a Palestinian rally in Times Square, calling it “abhorrent and morally repugnant.” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has said Gazans are “all antisemitic” and that the U.S. should not accept them as refugees.

Media outlets have also put out what some described as biased accounts that fail to explain why people are rallying. They are calling to stop bombardment of Gaza, but also for freedom for Palestinians who have faced years of dispossession, mass arrests and brutal repression of their protests.

Community leaders called for elected officials to stand against hate and to condemn the mass killings of civilians in Gaza, as they have done for Israelis.

"Our community has become a target across the country, a target of hate, injustice and exclusion," said Bsharat, of the Clifton center. "Our people do not feel safe, heard or seen. We are calling for everyone to acknowledge the humanity of all Palestinians and end this violence."

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ Palestinians worried after threats mount against them