The anti-Muslim rhetoric of rightwing politicians is fuelling hate crime – I’ve experienced it myself | Tasnim Nazeer

Words wield immense power, and public figures such as Suella Braverman and Lee Anderson are using them cleverly to whip up their audience

Get out of our country, you fucking Muslim. Go back to Palestine. You deserve to be killed, and all your children," were the words a man hurled at me as he threw a glass bottle in my direction. He just missed me and threw his fists in the air as I hurried into Piccadilly Circus underground station. When I got home, I hugged my kids tightly. With the heartbreaking loss experienced by parents in Gaza at the front of my mind, it was difficult to hold back the tears. This disturbing incident, occurring just three weeks into the Israel-Gaza conflict, was sadly not an isolated one.

Last week, Tell Mama, an organisation monitoring anti-Muslim hate, found that hate crimes against Muslims had risen by 335% since 7 October. In more than 65% of cases, women were the target of such attacks. It is therefore deeply troubling to witness public figures spout anti-Muslim rhetoric. The Conservative MP Lee Anderson may have had the whip removed, but his claims on GB News that London and its mayor, Sadiq Khan, are under the control of Islamists" will do lasting damage. Meanwhile, in a column in the Telegraph last week, the former home secretary Suella Braverman asserted that Islamists are bullying Britain into submission" and that the influence of Islamist cranks and leftwing extremists" can be found in our judiciary, our legal profession and our universities". This kind of rhetoric - which characterises pro-Palestine protesters like me as shady yet powerful Islamists" - only serves to fuel further hatred against Muslims.

Tasnim Nazeer is a journalist and freelance TV reporter. She is a Universal Peace Federation ambassador for peace

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