LOS ANGELES — According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian incidents have increased by more than 170% since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, compared to the same timeframe last year.
As a Palestinian Muslim, Fatmah Muhammad is trying to fight back against that rising tide of hatred by spreading love through sharing her traditional Palestinian dessert.
Growing up, Muhammad saw her mom bring their community together through food. So, when she had a family of her own, Muhammad decided to do the same by starting Knafeh Queens, a business selling traditional Palestinian dessert.
“What better way to spread love and happiness and to unite people and gather people together than with good food,” Muhammad said.
On Sunday, Muhammad and her team sold Knafeh at a pop-up marketplace raising funds for people in Gaza, 80% of which have been displaced from their homes by Israel's attacks, according to the United Nations. At the marketplace, Muhammad was surrounded by folks eager to try her sweet and cheesy dessert, and who greeted her with kindness, love and respect.
Muhammad says most of her interactions over the past two have been nothing but positive, but she also says she’s experienced her fair share of discrimination for being Muslim and Palestinian.
“We’ve had a lot of hateful comments from people who follow us," Muhammad said. "We have gotten people who reached out and said ‘go back to your country,’ or actually, the most recent one, somebody had told us ‘your city in Palestine, your parents’ city is next.’”
And Muhammad’s not alone. According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian incidents have spiked over the past two months. Notably, a 6-year-old Palestinian Muslim was stabbed to death in Chicago and 3 Palestinian college students were shot in Vermont.
Evelyn Alsultany is a professor at USC and an expert on Islamophobia and anti-Arab hate, and she says the rise in hate should be understood not only from an individual level, but from a larger societal scale as well.
“Junaid Rana and Nadin Naber define Islamophobia as the interplay between state, media and individuals who target Muslims and people who appear to be Muslim, and frame them as terrorist threats to national security,” Alsultany said. "We often recognize Islamophobia when it comes through an individual as a hate crime, but these three are really interrelated."
Alsultany says it is also vital to underscore that though Islamophobia, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian racism sometimes overlap, they often target different people and right now, Palestinians are receiving the bulk of the hatred.
“It definitely impacts Palestinians the most, Palestinians here are under threat, but it also targets any ally of Palestinian rights,” Alsultany said.
As both a Palestinian and Muslim woman, Muhammad has to navigate both Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian hate, but she doesn’t let that get in her way.
“Love always wins, love always conquers. Even though there is a lot of hate, I do feel like there’s so much more love," Muhammad said.
Muhammad hopes to see a swift end to the violence and hate, and she plans to keep doing her part by spreading love through her traditional Palestinian dessert.