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A woman wearing a niqab, checks her phone while walking along the Red Square in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, July 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)

After vandalism reports involving graffiti at a few mosques in Texas and California, Muslim leaders there have stepped up existing efforts to keep their sacred spaces and community members safe. The incidents add to what many American Muslims say has already been a charged climate amid the fallout in the U.S. of the Israel-Hamas war. After the war started, Muslim and Jewish civil rights groups have said that there’s an upsurge of reports of harassment, bias and physical assaults against members of their communities. Leaders in affected Muslim communities have praised the support they've received from allies in their aftermath of the reported vandalism incidents.