EDITORIAL: Anti-Muslim hate crimes have surged in the UK. In the latest incident brought to the Hertfordshire police’s attention last week graves in the Muslim section of the Carpenders Park Lawn Cemetery, many belonging to babies and young children, were vandalised.
The local police chief said his force had initially considered “several hypothesis” regarding the cause of the desecration, and an inquiry had since led them to conclude the act was religiously motivated, and that this “terrible crime” is now being treated as an Islamophobic act.
Predictably, the incident has drawn strong condemnation from community leaders and local government officials, while the chief superintendent of police described it as “an abhorrent incident and one that will understandably spark an emotive reaction in the communities”. He has promised to work very hard and quickly to ascertain the circumstances.
This heinous act is part of a wider anti-Muslim hate campaign. In its report released last February, Tell Mama, a private organisation that monitors hate crimes against Muslims, said it had documented a steep rise in offline incidents recording 3,680 reported cases – a 72 percent increase on the number two years ago.
A majority of them were of abusive behaviour, but also incidents of physical assault, discrimination and vandalism. Most of the attacks took place during 2024 in public areas such as street and parks, with a majority occurring at the workplace. Particularly noteworthy is the organisation’s finding that more men than women were targeted since the start of hostilities in Gaza.
All this while, the pro-Israeli rhetoric emanating from Western capitals has been painting Hamas – which has been fighting for freedom from Israeli occupation – as a terrorist outfit, and the oppressor occupying state as a wounded party, creating utterly false notions about Muslims, especially Muslim men.
It should not be surprising if that has made good fodder for Britain’s far-right extremists, i.e., white supremacists who need a cause to blame for what they think are their society’s problems.
Not without significance also is the existence of some no-go areas for ‘people of colour’ even in London, inhabited by men and women who do not like to work, but accuse migrants of stealing the natives’ jobs and reducing the wages.
It is good to note that a serious effort is on to tackle anti-Muslim hatred and Islamophobia. Earlier this month, the government announced a new fund, it said, would provide comprehensive service to monitor anti-Muslim hate and support victims.
Equally, mainstream British politicians need to get it right what also needs to be fixed. As emphasised by Iman Atta, director of Tell Mama, those in positions of influence should “consider how their language risks stereotyping communities and how it unduly influences discussions online and offline.”
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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