Saher Selod

“It’s expanding beyond a Muslim population to target others,”

Saher Selod · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-13

Selod said post-9/11 surveillance architecture is expanding beyond the Muslim population to target others, citing monitoring of Black Lives Matter demonstrators.

“It’s probably the worst of what we’ve seen,”

Saher Selod · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-13

Selod described the current wave of Islamophobic rhetoric as the worst researchers have tracked.

“It’s a playbook. They’re going to attack him for his religious identity to see if this will help pull voters away from him.”

Saher Selod · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-13

Selod described the attacks on El-Sayed's religious identity as a playbook to pull voters away from him.

“We’re certainly seeing in 2025 and 2026, ahead of these midterms, really very Islamophobic ads – more so than what we saw after 9/11.”

Saher Selod · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-13

Selod said Islamophobic ads in 2025 and 2026 ahead of the midterms are worse than those seen after 9/11.

“With Abdul El-Sayed, we’re seeing these kinds of intense Islamophobic attacks against him, as opposed to attacking his platform or critiquing his policies,”

Saher Selod · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-13

Selod said the attacks on El-Sayed target his religious identity rather than his platform or policies.

“We didn’t have Immigration and Customs Enforcement. We didn’t have the TSA, the Transportation Security Administration. These were all put into place to protect the nation against threats of terrorism.”

Saher Selod · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-13

Selod noted that ICE, TSA, and other agencies were created after 9/11 to protect against terrorism threats.

“All of the surveillance programs that were put into place, your no-fly list, ICE – these are a product of 9/11,”

Saher Selod · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-13

Selod said surveillance programs including the no-fly list and ICE are products of 9/11.