Communities on edge as faith-based hate crimes spike across the West

Communities on edge as faith-based hate crimes spike across the West From a California mosque shooting to instances of antisemitic violence in Australia and Britain, experts warn political polarisation and online extremism are fuelling a surge in faith-based hate crimes. SAN DIEGO, California: Nine-year-old Odai Shanah huddled with dozens of classmates inside a closet, trembling in fear as gunshots rang out at the Californian mosque where they attend school. The May 18 shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego killed three people outside the city’s largest mosque, including a security guard whom authorities credit with preventing even greater bloodshed. Two teenage suspects later took their own lives several blocks away. After the shooting stopped, police SWAT teams combed through the building room by room, escorting students out. “I heard a bunch of bad stuff, like gunshots. When I went inside the closet with my whole class, we heard like 12 or 16 gunshots,” Shanah recounted to Reuters in an interview hours after the attack. "The teachers and the kids were all like shaking, sad and stuff. When the guy kicked the door, all of (us) were crying,” he added, referring to an officer who kicked open the closet door during evacuation. FAITH-BASED HATE CRIMES The attack came amid growing concerns over rising anti-Muslim incidents in the United States. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said it received 8,658 complaints last year, up 7.4 per cent from 2024. The organisation said the figures point to a “worsening climate of Islamophobia”. Jewish groups are also reporting a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents and attacks. On Mar 12, a man rammed his truck into a Michigan synagogue while a preschool was in session. No staff or children were hurt, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said the attacker later died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a Jewish group that tracks antisemitism, said assaults, harassment and vandalism in the US remain well above levels seen before the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza. “It's almost as if we have two eras: pre-Oct 7 and post-Oct 7,” said the organisation’s CEO Jonathan Greenblatt. “In this new era, up 70 per cent from 2022, American Jews report feeling unsafe in the communities where they've lived for generations, even centuries.” He added that 2025 was also one of the most violent years for Jewish Americans since the league began tracking such incidents in the late 1970s. An ADL report released last October found that 55 per cent of Jewish Americans said they had experienced some form of antisemitism in the past year. A GLOBAL TREND Experts say the rise in antisemitic and anti-Muslim incidents in the US reflects a broader global pattern, with authorities across several Western countries reporting sharp increases in faith-based hate crimes. Last December, Sydney was rocked by a mass shooting during a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach that left 15 people dead. In the aftermath, Australia launched a national inquiry into antisemitism. “The sharp spike in antisemitism that we've witnessed in Australia has been mirrored in other Western countries and seems clearly linked to events in the Middle East,” said Virginia Bell, head of Australia’s royal commission on antisemitism and social cohesion. Meanwhile, Islamophobia Register Australia found that anti-Muslim incidents reported to the organisation has jumped more than fivefold since October 2023. In the United Kingdom, a recent stabbing in the Jewish community of Golders Green in north London has also heightened fears over religiously motivated violence. British government data from 2025 showed Jewish communities faced the highest rate of hate crimes per person than any other faith, while offences against Muslims recorded the highest overall number of incidents, rising 19 per cent. POLARISATION & ONLINE EXTREMISM Experts say the attacks may span different countries and communities, but many of the same forces are driving them – political polarisation, online extremism and divisive public rhetoric. Groups supporting victims of hate crimes warn that tensions are becoming increasingly volatile. Nadia Aziz, a California-based civil rights attorney, said hate crimes in the US have been surging for more than a decade. “Since 2015, we’ve had near record high reports of hate crimes,” she said. “If you look at the timing, that was around the time Donald Trump launched his first presidential campaign, we have also seen an increase in organised hate groups in the US being more active.” Aziz said political leaders have a responsibility to avoid inflaming divisions. “What the government can do is use their positions of power responsibly, to not spew hate, to use the bully pulpit in a way that brings communities together instead of dividing them,” she said. Experts warn that deepening political and social divisions are increasingly turning online hostility into real-world violence. With conflicts abroad continuing to inflame tensions at home – whether in the US, Europe or Australia – many fear faith-based hate crimes will continue to escalate.