US Islamophobia ‘stands out for its enormity’ but movement for Palestinian rights is unprecedented in size and visibility

Arafat Issa hangs Palestinian flags across a pedestrian bridge in Durham, North Carolina, almost every week. But on 28 July, a man in a baseball cap pulled out a knife and cut the flags down from the steel railing. Issa says the man cursed at him and his family before waving the knife in their direction. They had two small children, including Issa’s four-month-old daughter, with them.

“He told us: go back where you came from,” Issa says. “I was scared … it’s not like we were doing anything wrong. We were peacefully protesting.”