Appeasing Hamas: why we need muscular liberalism

Jews never were fully embraced in the West. Even in Britain, which in 1917 issued the Balfour Declaration that made a Jewish state possible, the 1903 Aliens Act had effectively barred more Jewish immigration into the UK. Among other xenophobic statements included in the Act was the suggestion that Jewish observance of a different Sabbath to Christians was problematic. Elsewhere in Europe, forced conversions, pogroms and other incidents of violent antisemitism led to the desire of many Jews for a homeland of their own, one where they could be safe from constant attempts to annihilate them. If Jewish experience could be summed up in two words, it would be expulsion and extermination.

Today we find ourselves facing the brutal reality that age-old antisemitism has gone nowhere. No matter what your thoughts are on the geopolitics of Israel and Palestine, none can deny that the massacre of Jews by Hamas, unprecedented since the Holocaust, has inspired visceral outpourings of antisemitism across the world. The danger is that by appeasing Hamas we will import its horrific violence onto our streets.

Last weekend the streets of London from the BBC’s New Broadcasting House to Whitehall were filled with up to 50,000 pro-Palestinian protestors. Elsewhere, city centres in other cities such as Birmingham and Manchester were brought to a standstill. Footage of the protests indicates that these protests are not just for Palestine but are acting as spaces within which forms of Islamist fascism breathe. In London a mob attacked an Iranian dissident camped outside the Foreign Office, including one man who allegedly threatened to behead him and was later charged with possessing a knife in a public place. The image of a paraglider taped to the backs of two women, glorifying Hamas tactics, made the front page of the Daily Mail. In Scotland a woman was filmed mocking Jews about the Holocaust. In Germany the star of David was painted on the doors of Jewish homes, a continuation of more than ten centuries of marking Jews with identifying badges from Muslim caliphs to medieval bishops to Nazis to 2023. Antisemitism that has existed under the cloak of pro-Palestine human rights activism has truly been exposed.

Before Israel had even begun to move against Hamas, activists in the UK did not pause to mourn for beheaded babies and massacred Jews, but instead cried “free Palestine…from the river to the sea”. Do these activists — most of whom have never set foot in Palestine and know nothing other than a second-hand version of the history and the reality on the ground — even realise that they are thereby calling for the elimination of Israel?

Whilst the rights of Palestinians must be defended and this has always depended on the  mutual acceptance of a two-state solution, some of the behaviour we are seeing on the streets of Britain is not legitimate protest for Palestinians. It is support for Hamas — a proscribed terrorist organisation. That is a criminal offence and should be handled as we handled ISIS support.

At least six Jewish schools in London have closed for fear of attack, while Jewish students on university campuses are being advised not to go in. The Community Security Trust reports a 324% increase in antisemitic incidents, including six assaults since Hamas launched its attack on Israel last Saturday. When Jews make up just 0.2% of the global population, less than one tenth of the Muslim population in the UK and when large sections of the Muslim population joins hands with swathes of the far-Left, the fear amongst Jews is palpable and starkly understandable. All of us should ask ourselves: what went wrong? The fault lies in the age-old pathological hatred of the Jewish community known as antisemitism, yet its ability to take root is the fault of the British establishment.

We have allowed groups linked to the Muslim Brotherhood and its South Asian equivalent, Jamaat e Islami, as well as Iranian state-backed groups dictate to the West who the victims are and what Islam is. In the main the West should have the intellectual resilience to understand that we are being manipulated and lied to when it comes to the nuances of geopolitical conflicts and who “represents” Islam. But the absence of such resilience, documented in the findings of the Prevent Review last February, has meant that even counter-terrorism practitioners have favoured tackling far-Right extremism over Islamism for fear of being branded racist. This fear has meant we in the UK and the West more widely have lacked a muscular liberal approach. We have provided safe havens for terrorists and a safe hub for their operations, creating divisions within communities and violent ramifications for both Muslim and other communities at home and abroad. Once we see that we are very much part of the problem, we must get smart — fast.

We harbour Islamist groups in the UK, some operating as registered charities. No fewer than 46 British Islamist groups have signed a petition to say that Hamas is not a terrorist organisation. Certain pro-Palestine charities in particular have always proven problematic. The Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), for example, has senior figures who have espoused support for violent jihad, expressed sympathy for convicted terrorists, and advocated the eradication of “Zionists”.^[1]  At one of the annual “pro-Palestine” Al-Quds day marches in London, protesters were told: “You know people are rushing in large numbers from Britain, from Europe, from all around the world, from Arab countries to go and do jihad in Syria. What about jihad in Palestine? Why not even a single one of them have gone to fight for Palestine for over 65 years?” One IHRC leader has also been pictured draped in the flag of Hezbollah.^[2] Nonetheless, the IHRC, like many others with similar ideologies, continues to function in the UK as a registered charity.

These so-called charities have spun a narrative in which challenging them on their extremism is held to be a “weaponisation” of antisemitism. Calling them “antisemitic” is intended to oppress them and prop up the Jewish state. This manipulation, combined with a persistent cry of Muslim victimhood, has drawn powerfully on the heart strings of well-meaning persons on the Left. The success of the binary good versus evil paradigm they have created — in which the West and especially Jews are oppressors and so “the bad”, while Muslims are perpetually oppressed and therefore “the good” — can be measured in the sheer numbers turning up to marches in the past fortnight.

Meanwhile in Iran and in the Iranian diaspora, anti-regime activists have mobilized against pro-Hamas groups in support of Israel. Many have been seen protecting and flying the Israeli flag, openly chanting against extremism. Sabah Ahmedi, a young British imam, shared this message on social media:

“I’m making this plain and clear that as Muslim I will never physically or verbally abuse any members of the Jewish community. I don’t have words to describe the absolute tragic state of the world right now but violence is not the answer.”

These demonstrations of Muslim opposition to Hamas are juxtaposed against elements across the West supporting Hamas action. The voices of such opponents of Hamas should give the West pause.

Gone are the days where the far-Left can plausibly deny antisemitism’s existence within its ranks, or claim that it’s exaggerated or weaponised for political reasons. Classical liberalism will find its voice as the mask of those claiming to be anti-racist human rights activists has fully slipped. Now is the time for the centre ground to gather and be heard. For liberal Muslim voices to be platformed in the mainstream media and for those who unjustly cry Islamophobia, whilst also signing a petition that declares Hamas not a terrorist organisation, lose any political standing they may have and indeed any charitable status. Indeed it is now time to turn the “muscular liberalism” of which David Cameron once spoke into reality. Such liberalism would mean that money was prevented from reaching extremist groups that incite terrorism are and an unapologetic drive to strengthen shared liberal identity.

A greater faith literacy is also needed to allow for the confidence to support progressive Muslim voices both in Palestine and the West. Greater intellectual resilience is needed where binary “us versus them” grievance narratives are peddled, so that complex geopolitical conflicts cannot be opportunities for politicians and influencers to be swayed into supporting extremism.

This is a call for a robust stance on tackling Islamism, a firm legal response to appeasing Hamas and generous support for liberal Muslim voices. To prevent conflict in the Middle East from setting communities against one another in Britain, the only answer is muscular liberalism — with no apology.

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^[1] HJS-IHRC-Report-WEB.pdf (henryjacksonsociety.org) Emma Fox, Islamic Human Rights Commission, Advocating for the Ayotollahs

^[2] Ibid.