Islamophobia and the Brown University and MIT Shootings

Next week I will not be writing as I will take some time off for rest and relaxation and to enjoy the holidays with my family. So this will be my last post for a week or so. There is an expression that "you should never let a crisis go to waste." Two recent shootings show that pro-Israel Islamophobes are ardent practitioners of this advice. With scant evidence, almost all of which turned out to be wrong, online influencers and even the Israeli government sought exploit recent shootings to portray the events as antisemitic attacks possibly linked to Iran. In the end, they turned out to be completely wrong.

Not quite a week ago, a gunman burst into a study hall at Brown University and opened fire on students who were preparing for final exams. He killed two students and wounded nine others. Two days later, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was also shot and killed. Supporters of Israel and many Islamophobic influencers online immediately attempted to portray these shootings as acts of antisemitism. In the case of Brown, online personalities such as all-around crazy person Laura Loomer pointed out that the professor of the class that was targeted is Jewish. However, that professor was not at the study session during which the shooting took place. Loomer and others then claimed that the MIT professor was both Jewish and an outspoken critic of Hamas. The anti-Hamas claim was based on a Threads post that was wrongly attributed to the professor and friends of his denied that he was Jewish or ever talked about Israel or Hamas. Early on, there were reports that when the gunman entered the study hall, he had yelled something. However, whatever that may have been — or if it occurred at all — was never clarified. Loomer, without evidence, claimed that the shooter had yelled "Allahu Akbar" and that authorities were covering it up.

Loomer and others then went on to falsely accuse a Brown University student who has an Arab name and has apparently been supportive of Palestinians of being the shooter. The student was never named by police as a person of interest or in any other capacity. Nevertheless, an online mob was soon out to get him. When Brown University removed his profile page from its website, it only increased speculation that he was involved and that there was a cover-up. The more logical explanation — that this was an effort to prevent doxxing and other harassment of an innocent student — never seemed to enter their minds. One of the worst offenders in spreading false rumors about the student was investor Bill Ackman. Ackman retweeted at least 5 tweets to his almost 2 million followers naming the student and suggesting that he was involved in the shooting. When authorities said that they had identified a person of interest who was apparently not the Brown student, Loomer said that it "[d]oesn’t matter" and began arguing that Brown University was violating an agreement it had made with the administration of cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump regarding antisemitism and was trying to cover up for it.

Even though the student is innocent and was not involved in any manner whatsoever, Loomer is still seeking to instigate punishment of Brown University. On X, she wrote that "I spoke with DOJ and Trump Administration officials at the White House Hanukkah party, and they confirmed they are actively investigating Brown University for VIOLATING their July 2025 settlement agreement" and claimed that Brown was "fostering violence and religious hatred on campus." The presence of a Muslim, pro-Palestinian student on a campus is apparently something that Loomer simply cannot tolerate. If anyone is fostering violence and creating religious hatred on campus, and putting a student in danger in the process, it is Loomer and Ackman due to their spreading false allegations about the student.

The Israeli government reportedly went so far as to open an investigation into whether Iran was involved. Ackman also spread this news on his X account. Loomer criticized U.S. law enforcement agencies saying that "many of our agencies are infested by Muslim money" and "[t]hank God for Israel that actually knows how to do a competent investigation." Ultimately, it appears that those like Loomer, Ackman, and the Israeli government were completely and totally wrong.

Yesterday, police surrounded a storage unit facility in Salem, New Hampshire. Authorities had found records connecting the suspect to a storage unit there. Moreover, they located a vehicle that had been identified as being involved in both the Brown and MIT shootings at the location. The suspect, later named as Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, a Portuguese national who is a legal permanent resident of the United States, was found dead due to suicide. Neves Valente has no known connection to the Middle East. However, he was a former student at Brown who likely was very familiar with the building in which the shooting took place, and authorities now say that Neves Valente and the MIT professor were classmates in Portugal.

How police were led to Neves Valente is an interesting story. An individual identified in an affidavit only as "John" had an encounter with Neves Valente near the time of the Brown shooting. He then posted a description of his encounter on Reddit, and another Redditor alerted the police to the post. The police then went back to video they had obtained and found footage showing the interaction of "John" and Neves Valente. That led to authorities releasing a photograph and asking for information about "John". John eventually contacted the authorities and provided full cooperation. With his assistance, the police identified the car used by Neves Valente and learned that it was a rental. The rental agency was able to provide photographs and other identifying information about Neves Valente, which led them to the storage unit.

The photograph that police released led to further Islamophobic accusations. Loomer claimed that the photo showed "a black hijab under the hoodie" and wrote that "One thing is certain, that is a black hijab and that means the person of interest is a Muslim." According to her, the police would not identify the suspect "because the truth doesn't fit their politically correct, leftist agenda." In reality, the person in the photo was not a suspect, there is no suggestion that "John" is Muslim or was wearing a hijab, and his information was crucial to identifying Neves Valente.

During the press conference held after Neves Valente was discovered dead, the Providence, Rhode Island police chief said that authorities believe that Neves Valente worked alone and that the killings were not antisemitic in nature. So much for the theories advanced by Loomer, Ackman, and the Israeli government. But don't hold your breath waiting for any of them to admit that they were wrong.

Even after Neves Valente was identified and police rejected claims that the shootings were antisemitic, Loomer continued making Islamophobic claims. She repeated her accusation that the shooter had shouted "Allahu Akbar" and pointed to the existence of Muslims in Portugal. Apparently, she is trying to convince her followers that Neves Valente is Muslim. Ackman's tweets accusing an innocent Brown University student of being involved in the shooting are still up. Maybe the student can contact a lawyer and see if he can get some of Ackman's money?

This has been a massive faceplant by the likes of Loomer and Ackman. They invented antisemitic incidents that didn't exist, and didn't even bother to confirm one victim's religion before creating an entire false narrative about him. They spread false allegations about an innocent student, encouraging an online mob to harass him. Loomer has caused the rumor that the shooter yelled "Allahu Akbar" to spread far and wide despite there being no evidence that such a thing happened. Authorities haven't even confirmed that anything was yelled at all, reporting that some students involved denied it. Yet, none of the online Islamophobes are likely to suffer any repercussions. In fact, many of their allegations are likely to continue to be believed despite being exposed as false.