This post was updated July 28 at 4:36 p.m.

As of July 10, an estimated 38,000 Palestinians have died and over 2.3 million have been displaced from their homes as a result of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

Geopolitical implications notwithstanding, the sheer destruction and loss of life is staggering.

As the conflict continues to foster vile displays of hate, Islamophobia persists both in the United States and abroad, despite efforts to reform our biases and shed away our prejudices toward one another.

In 2022, the United Nations proclaimed March 15 as the International Day to Combat Islamophobia. But this past March 15, independent experts at the UN reported alarming levels of anti-Muslim sentiment on a global scale.

The urgent statement was brought forth as experts observed a higher incidence of physical attacks, verbal attacks and death threats motivated by real or perceived affiliations with Islam.

The bigotry is shameful. What’s even more disappointing is the outright pride that accompanies such displays of hate.

In June 2023, Swedish police granted an extremist the right to burn the Quran – Islam’s holy text – outside of a mosque during the Eid-al-Adha holiday, a celebration that culminates the end of Hajj, the holy pilgrimage to Mecca.

It was a repugnant act, followed by a similar demonstration by ultranationalists in Denmark the following July, a clear example of how the propagation of hate speech does not stop in the face of geographic borders.

Anti-Muslim sentiment has also reached new heights within the U.S., where it has long festered.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations received more than 8,061 complaints in 2023, the highest it has been in the organization’s 30-year history. Much of CAIR’s 2024 Civil Rights report describes a reality devoid of progress and compassion directed toward Muslim Americans.

It illustrates a reality of discrimination, violence and vitriol.

6-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume was stabbed over 20 times in Illinois. A teacher in Georgia threatened to behead a seventh-grade Muslim student after she asked about the Israeli flag on his desk. A man in Vermont shot and wounded three Palestinian students studying in the U.S. after a night of bowling.

At what point in our nation’s history will we stop hating people solely based on their beliefs and traditions? To be able to identify with a certain religion is a beautiful thing in its own right.

These identifiers represent a long, personal history of faith, devotion and resistance to the pressures of assimilation. They represent the preservation of cultural practices that have and continue to serve one’s family or social circles.

Islam, as has been the case with other prominent belief systems, can be co-opted by extremists to advance their own agendas of hate and violence – that’s just the way history plays itself out.

But shouldn’t we, as thinkers in the 21st century, discern between the bad actors and the harmless practitioners, both in the U.S. and elsewhere?

It remains paramount for us to denounce hate and bigotry in all their forms, particularly because of the real impact they hold for their victims.

The editorial board will continue to stand in favor of acceptance, love and understanding. One thing remains true, now more than ever: Islamophobia should not be tolerated.