Two mosques in Hannover, Germany were targeted with graffiti apparently written in support of the Israeli military and its campaign in Gaza. The attacks were deliberate and coordinated — both mosques hit in what authorities described as a targeted attack.

A mosque is a sacred space. It is where families gather to pray, where communities build bonds across generations, where children learn about their faith. Defacing that space — with any message, let alone one tied to a military campaign that has killed tens of thousands of civilians — is an act of intimidation designed to make Muslim communities feel unsafe in their own neighborhoods. That is its purpose. That is its effect.

“Hate vandalism of mosques, or any house of worship, is a cowardly tactic meant to spread fear, hatred, and division,” United Voices said. “It must be condemned unequivocally. A sacred place of worship is no place for hateful graffiti in support of genocide.”

The Hannover attacks are not isolated. United Voices has documented a deepening pattern of anti-Muslim hate across Europe that has been accelerating in recent years. In Ireland, two men were arrested for an alleged terrorist plot targeting a mosque in Galway. In the Netherlands, a mosque faced violent threats and hate incidents. In France, a Muslim prayer room was nearly burned down in an attempted arson. Earlier this year, a Muslim woman was murdered in Germany and a mosque was destroyed during anti-immigrant riots in Spain.

United Voices has said plainly: Islamophobia in Europe is spinning out of control. What is happening in Hannover is not a local problem — it is one data point in a continent-wide pattern of religious targeting that is being fed, in part, by the same political and media forces that frame Muslims as a threat to Western civilization.

United Voices is calling on German authorities to conduct a full and impartial investigation into the Hannover attacks, identify and prosecute those responsible, and ensure enhanced security for Muslim communities across the country. We are also calling on European leaders and institutions to stop treating anti-Muslim hate as a fringe problem and start confronting it with the urgency it demands.