During Ramadan, a collective Taraweeh prayer event in New York's Times Square transitioned from a public religious and social gathering into the focus of a systematic digital hate campaign. This initiative was largely driven by right-wing and pro-Israel social media accounts, which aimed to vilify the event and portray it as an 'occupation of the space' and 'Islamization of America'. The 'Open Source Unit' of Al Jazeera tracked this social media interaction on the platform X, revealing how these accounts engineered a narrative of hatred that removed the event from its natural context, transforming it into material for mobilization through a series of similarly worded posts.

The genesis of this misinformation can be traced back to right-wing and Israeli accounts that captured spontaneous videos depicting the Taraweeh prayers and subsequently reposted them with inflammatory descriptions that aimed to delegitimize the gathering. One such account, 'Vivid', posted a video that characterized the event as an 'occupation of the square', questioning whether Americans would accept this, thus linking the religious presence of Muslims to the concept of control over public space. This reflects broader societal tensions regarding the integration of Muslim communities in the United States and raises questions about religious expression in public domains during culturally significant periods like Ramadan, especially in predominantly secular spaces.

The implications of this hate campaign extend beyond just the local event; it signifies a larger struggle against rising Islamophobia in the U.S., where expressions of Muslim identity in public spaces are being challenged. These incidents highlight the need for vigilance against the narrative-building efforts that seek to marginalize faith-based gatherings and the importance of promoting understanding and tolerance in increasingly polarized environments.