Threats and violence against Arab Americans
Arab Americans include Muslims and Christians, and they are targeted for ethnicity as much as faith. Agencies reported 120 anti-Arab incidents in 2025, after 2024 set the high mark since the FBI restored the category in 2015.
What you need to know
- 120 anti-Arab incidents appear in the FBI's 2025 release; the continually updated FBI figure is 130.
- 2024 remains the highest year for anti-Arab hate crime since the category returned in 2015, per the Arab American Institute.
- In 2023 three Palestinian American students were shot in Burlington, Vt., and a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy was killed in Illinois.
- Advocates say many anti-Arab crimes are filed as anti-Muslim or "other," so counts understate the problem.
The official count
| Bias type | Category | 2025 | 2024 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anti-Arab | Race/Ethnicity/Ancestry | 120 | 158 | -38 |
Counts are incidents reported by agencies that file with the FBI. A lower number can mean fewer agencies reported, not less hate. See every bias type.
Attacks that define the threat
- Oct. 14, 2023 · Plainfield Township, Ill.
6-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume, a Palestinian American, was stabbed to death by his family's landlord.
- Nov. 25, 2023 · Burlington, Vt.
Three Palestinian American college students, two wearing keffiyehs, were shot and wounded while walking. One was left paralyzed.
Terms and signals
Analysts and officers see these in posts, comments and channels. Knowing them lets you read a threat for what it is.
- Dehumanizing language
- Animal or vermin language aimed at Arabs or Palestinians as people, rather than at a government or group.
- Keffiyeh and Arabic as targets
- Posts urging others to attack people wearing a keffiyeh or speaking Arabic.
- Overlap with anti-Muslim codes
- Many threats reuse crusader and Christchurch references even when victims are Christian Arabs.
A term alone is not a threat. Hateful speech is often legal. NCTIC scores escalation: a specific target, a means, a time, and signs of planning or goodbye messages.
From talk to attack
Spillover. Threats rise with Middle East conflict. Criticism of a government is speech; calls to hurt Arab neighbors are threats.
Visible identity. Attacks often follow a visible marker: dress, language, a flag. Posts that tell people how to spot targets are planning.
Report a threat
- Call 911 for anything imminent. Report threats to local police and the FBI at tips.fbi.gov or 1-800-CALL-FBI.
- Ask the agency to record anti-Arab bias specifically, not only anti-Muslim. Accurate coding fixes the undercount.
- Send threats you find to NCTIC at pesach@lattin.us or 505-932-9060. We route each one to the agency with jurisdiction.
Frequently asked
How many anti-Arab hate crimes were reported in 2025?
The FBI's 2025 release lists 120 anti-Arab incidents. The figure in the FBI's continually updated Crime Data Explorer is 130. 2024, with 158, remains the highest year since the category returned in 2015.
Why are anti-Arab hate crimes undercounted?
Officers often code them as anti-Muslim or another category, and many victims never report. Arab Americans who are Christian can be missed entirely.
Who studies this
NCTIC's analysis draws on official data and the work of these organizations. Listing them does not mean they endorse NCTIC.
Analyzes FBI hate crime data and advocates for accurate reporting.
Civil rights organization.
How we put this together. Hate crime counts are incidents reported by law enforcement agencies to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program for 2025, released Aug. 14, 2026, as tabulated by the Arab American Institute; 2024 comparisons use the FBI's updated Crime Data Explorer figures. These counts cover only agencies that report and only incidents that reach police, so they understate the problem, and year-to-year changes partly reflect which agencies filed. Attack summaries draw on court records and news reporting cited below. Watch terms come from NCTIC analysis and public research such as the ADL Hate Symbols database. NCTIC products are analysis and can be wrong.
NCTIC is an independent nonprofit, non-governmental organization. It is not a government agency, does not act under government authority, and does not make or enforce laws.
We take no position on immigration or other policy questions and do not blame threats on any group. Our anchor is simple: the law says no violence against people, whoever they are.