Anti-Islam Sentiment Surges in US After New Orleans Attack [Video]

The New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans, which claimed the lives of 15 people and left dozens more injured, has given rise to a new wave of anti-Islamic sentiment in the U.S.

On Wednesday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) identified the perpetrator as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old Army veteran born in Texas. The bureau said that an ISIS flag was located inside the vehicle used and that Jabbar posted videos declaring his support for the organization only moments before driving into a crowd of revelers on Bourbon Street in the city’s French Quarter.

Exemplifying a trend that followed other instances of Islamic extremism—from 9/11 to Hamas‘ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel—prominent voices have jumped on the incident, using the attacker’s reported radical religious affiliations to criticize not only Islam, but also decry the presence of Muslims in the U.S.

“Cruel, merciless, bottom-feeding extremist groups want us all to turn on one another and …