(Washington) The United States is alarmed Wednesday by the rise in anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim acts since the war in the Gaza Strip, in its annual report on the state of religious freedom in the world.
“Since Hamas’ horrific terrorist attack on Israel on October 7 and the subsequent conflict in Gaza, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia have increased significantly around the world,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken lamented in presenting the report to the press.
“Here in the United States, hate crimes and other incidents targeting both Muslims and Jews have increased dramatically,” he added.
The Democratic president has repeatedly promised to fight anti-Semitism.
The war in Gaza is a politically sensitive subject in the United States, which led in particular to mobilizations in the spring on university campuses.
The head of American diplomacy further cited the blasphemy laws in Pakistan which promote “a climate of intolerance and hatred” or in India, where “we are witnessing a worrying increase in anti-conversion laws, hate speech, demolitions of homes and places of worship for members of minority religious communities.”
In Europe, he noted, nine countries have laws that effectively ban certain forms of religious clothing in public spaces, including France.
And in Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Hungary, “officials continue to use anti-Semitic themes and anti-Muslim rhetoric and penalize members of religious groups who criticize the government,” he said.
The US State Department publishes a report every year on the state of religious freedom in the world, as it does for human rights or human trafficking.
The report draws up a global inventory based on testimonies, media and local associations. The Secretary of State will later this year draw up a blacklist of countries of “particular concern”.