US President Joe Biden has unveiled a long-awaited strategy to counter Islamophobia and hate against Muslims and Arab Americans, made more acute since the start of the Israel-Gaza war.
Detailing more than 100 calls to action across all sections of society, the White House said it was its first ever national strategy to counter hate against Muslims and Arabs.
“Over the past year, this initiative has become even more important as threats against American Muslim and Arab communities have spiked,” the White House said in a statement announcing the initiative late on Thursday.
The White House cited the killing of six-year-old Wadea Al Fayoume in October last year. He was stabbed to death by his landlord in his home in Chicago and his mother was critically injured because they were Palestinian American.
"Over the last year there have been other grievous attacks on Muslim and Arab Americans," the White House said.
The 64-page document comes five weeks before the end of Mr Biden's term. A similar strategy to fight anti-Semitism was released in May 2023, and was spearheaded by Doug Emhoff, husband of Vice President Kamala Harris.
“You saw that in our anti-Semitism strategy, and obviously we’ve been talking about this Islamophobia strategy as well – or talking about coming up with a way forward in protecting communities,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told journalists. “Certainly, that’s the President’s commitment.”
On January 20, Donald Trump is due to begin his second term in the White House. During his first administration, he imposed the so-called Muslim travel ban, a measure Mr Biden rescinded on his first day in office.
Mr Biden's Islamophobia initiative drew criticism from Arab Americans who say his unequivocal support for Israel in its war on Gaza is the main driver of anti-Arab sentiment in the US. In November 2023, three Palestinian university students speaking in Arabic and wearing keffiyehs were shot in Vermont. One of three, Hisham Awartani was paralysed from the waist down.
“The Biden administration at large fails to realise that there's a connection between the proliferation of Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism with its horrific policies,” said Abdelhalim Abdelrahman, a Palestinian American writer and political analyst.
“It is in questioning the death toll, perpetuating several myths about October 7 and basically giving the Israelis everything they want on a silver platter militarily, that led to a mass demonisation of Palestinian Americans, Arab Americans, Muslim Americans,” Mr Abdelrahman told The National. “So, the initiative in general is not worth the paper it was written on.”
Other Arab and Muslim Americans said the initiative fails to address another driver of Islamophobia, the so-called no-fly list which unfairly targets Muslims and Arabs.
Since the start of the war, which was ignited by the Hamas attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people on October 7, Arab and Muslim Americans as well as pro-Palestinian groups have been demanding that Mr Biden adopt a more measured approach to the war, including ending weapons shipments to Israel.
More than 45,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza, including many relatives of Arab Americans.
After Mr Biden abandoned his re-election bid, Arab Americans tried to lobby Mr Harris to change course on Gaza, but she gave little indication that she would.
Mr Trump, who capitalised on anger with the Biden administration with promises that he would bring peace to the Middle East, won significant support in Dearborn, Michigan, the city where the majority of residents are Arab Americans.
But in recent weeks the community has said that they were disappointed with Mr Trump's recent nominations to top foreign posts in his incoming administration, which have included staunchly pro-Israel figures.
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PULITZER PRIZE 2020 WINNERS
JOURNALISM
Public Service
Anchorage Daily News in collaboration with ProPublica
Breaking News Reporting
Staff of The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.
Investigative Reporting
Brian M. Rosenthal of The New York Times
Explanatory Reporting
Staff of The Washington Post
Local Reporting
Staff of The Baltimore Sun
National Reporting
T. Christian Miller, Megan Rose and Robert Faturechi of ProPublica
and
Dominic Gates, Steve Miletich, Mike Baker and Lewis Kamb of The Seattle Times
International Reporting
Staff of The New York Times
Feature Writing
Ben Taub of The New Yorker
Commentary
Nikole Hannah-Jones of The New York Times
Criticism
Christopher Knight of the Los Angeles Times
Editorial Writing
Jeffery Gerritt of the Palestine (Tx.) Herald-Press
Editorial Cartooning
Barry Blitt, contributor, The New Yorker
Breaking News Photography
Photography Staff of Reuters
Feature Photography
Channi Anand, Mukhtar Khan and Dar Yasin of the Associated Press
Audio Reporting
Staff of This American Life with Molly O’Toole of the Los Angeles Times and Emily Green, freelancer, Vice News for “The Out Crowd”
LETTERS AND DRAMA
Fiction
"The Nickel Boys" by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday)
Drama
"A Strange Loop" by Michael R. Jackson
History
"Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America" by W. Caleb McDaniel (Oxford University Press)
Biography
"Sontag: Her Life and Work" by Benjamin Moser (Ecco/HarperCollins)
Poetry
"The Tradition" by Jericho Brown (Copper Canyon Press)
General Nonfiction
"The Undying: Pain, Vulnerability, Mortality, Medicine, Art, Time, Dreams, Data, Exhaustion, Cancer, and Care" by Anne Boyer (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
and
"The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America" by Greg Grandin (Metropolitan Books)
Music
"The Central Park Five" by Anthony Davis, premiered by Long Beach Opera on June 15, 2019
Special Citation
Ida B. Wells
Winners
Best Men's Player of the Year: Kylian Mbappe (PSG)
Maradona Award for Best Goal Scorer of the Year: Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
TikTok Fans’ Player of the Year: Robert Lewandowski
Top Goal Scorer of All Time: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
Best Women's Player of the Year: Alexia Putellas (Barcelona)
Best Men's Club of the Year: Chelsea
Best Women's Club of the Year: Barcelona
Best Defender of the Year: Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus/Italy)
Best Goalkeeper of the Year: Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG/Italy)
Best Coach of the Year: Roberto Mancini (Italy)
Best National Team of the Year: Italy
Best Agent of the Year: Federico Pastorello
Best Sporting Director of the Year: Txiki Begiristain (Manchester City)
Player Career Award: Ronaldinho
The biog
Name: Dr Lalia Al Helaly
Education: PhD in Sociology from Cairo
Favourite authors: Elif Shafaq and Nizar Qabbani.
Favourite music: classical Arabic music such as Um Khalthoum and Abdul Wahab,
She loves the beach and advises her clients to go for meditation.
Tom Fletcher on 'soft power'
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
Draw:
Group A: Egypt, DR Congo, Uganda, Zimbabwe
Group B: Nigeria, Guinea, Madagascar, Burundi
Group C: Senegal, Algeria, Kenya, Tanzania
Group D: Morocco, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Namibia
Group E: Tunisia, Mali, Mauritania, Angola
Group F: Cameroon, Ghana, Benin, Guinea-Bissau
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