When one kind of extremism increases without being challenged, other varieties often follow suit, according to organizations and researchers who monitor these patterns.
Dr. Sahar Khamis, a professor of communication at the University of Maryland who specializes in Islamic studies and Jewish-Islamic relations, said this trend tends to emerge when political conflict proliferates on a large scale, as it did after Hamas’ murders in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
“Sentiments rise very high and people start to get very emotional,” Khamis said. “That can provide the fertile environment for the growth of different types of ignorance and different types of hatred, whether it is antisemitism or whether it is Islamophobia.”
Hamas killed some 1,200 people, most of them Israelis. Israel responded with the ongoing war in Gaza, which has killed an estimated 52,000 Palestinians and blocked food and supplies to 2 million Palestinians for the last two months, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health.
The Anti-Defamation League, which monitors all kinds of hate speech and action, reports, “When there are periods of heightened violence and war in the news, oftentimes one or more marginalized identity groups can become the focus of attention, anger, hostility and bias even far removed from the location of the conflict.”
In Maryland, anti-Muslim incidents in the month after the October 7 massacre more than tripled, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
CAIR received 223 complaints between Oct. 9, 2023, and Dec 2, 2023, including a bomb threat at a mosque in Silver Spring and a hateful letter delivered to an Islamic organization in Prince George’s County. Complaints of incidents rose 23% from 2023 to 2024, it noted.
Antisemitism rose even more after the Oct. 7 attacks, according to the ADL and other groups that monitor it.
The ADL’s last annual audit, in 2022, before the October 7 Hamas massacre, ranked Maryland 10th in the country for the highest number of reported antisemitic incidents. In 2023, there were 339 recorded incidents, a 211% jump from 2022’s 109. That year Maryland moved up to seventh in the country for the highest number of antisemitic incidents reported, the audit found.
These incidents included a bomb threat made against a Rockville synagogue, the vandalism of a home with Hanukkah decorations in Hampden, and the discovery of swastika graffiti on the sidewalk in Fulton.