Imam of San Diego mosque says his community has seen a rise in Islamophobia

CBS Evening News Imam of San Diego Islamic Center says his community has seen a rise in Islamophobia: "We are not naïve" .chip { background-image: url('/fly/bundles/cbsnewscore/images/chip-bgd/chip-bgd-evening-news.jpg'); } By Faris Tanyos Faris Tanyos News Editor Faris Tanyos is a news editor for CBSNews.com, where he writes and edits stories and tracks breaking news. He previously worked as a digital news producer at several local news stations up and down the West Coast. Read Full Bio Faris Tanyos May 19, 2026 / 7:06 PM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google San Diego — The imam of the San Diego mosque that was targeted in Monday's shooting that killed three people told CBS News that his community has seen a "rise" in "Islamophobia and anti-Muslim sentiment" in recent years. "Everyone, all of us, we have noticed in the last few years the rise of white supremacists here in San Diego and all over the nation," Imam Taha Hassane of the Islamic Center of San Diego told CBS News on Tuesday. In 2023, both the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights and advocacy group, and the Anti-Defamation League found a significant rise in reports of anti-Muslim and antisemitic incidents following the start of the Israel-Hamas war. And in its annual report released earlier this year, CAIR said it received 8,683 civil rights complaints nationwide in 2025, the highest since it began tracking those numbers in 1996. "We have seen the rise of Islamophobia and anti-Muslim sentiment," Hassane said. "We know, we are not naïve. We know what is going on in the society. But at the same time, we try to protect ourselves and our congregations as much as we can." Reverend Methodist church Jerri Newell-Davis, center, an unknown woman and Imam Taha Hassane, right, pray together, the morning following a shooting, outside the Islamic Center of San Diego. May 19, 2026. Mike Blake / REUTERS Authorities said that two suspects in Monday's shooting, ages 17 and 18,...