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| Britain |
| Anti-Semitism is British Muslim community's 'dirty secret' |
| 2013-03-23 |
| Mehdi Hasan, political editor of the Huffington Post UK, said that anti-Semitism in Britain's Muslim community is so frequent it has become "routine and commonplace". He described how anti-Jewish sentiment in Muslim society is now seen in both young and old and is no longer a "hallmark of first-generation immigrants". He said, "Growing up, I always assumed that this obsession with "the Jews" was a hallmark of the "first-generation" immigrants from the subcontinent. In recent years, I've been depressed to discover that there are plenty of "second-generation" Muslim youths, born and bred in multiracial Britain, who have drunk the anti-Semitic Kool-Aid. I'm often attacked by them for working in the 'Jewish owned media'". Hasan gave the example of former Labour peer Lord Ahmed, who was recently suspended from the party for saying Jews "who own newspapers and TV channels" were responsible for his conviction and jail sentence after he was involved in a fatal car crash. Ahmed reportedly made the comments in Pakistan during an Urdu-language broadcast, according to the Sunday Times. He was reported to have said, "My case became more critical because I went to Gaza to support Palestinians. My Jewish friends who own newspapers and TV channels opposed this." Hasan wrote, "It pains me to have to admit this but anti-Semitism isn't just tolerated in some sections of the British Muslim community; it's routine and commonplace. Any Muslims reading this article - if they are honest with themselves - will know instantly what I am referring to. It's our dirty little secret. You could call it the banality of Muslim anti-Semitism. "The truth is that the virus of anti-Semitism has infected members of the British Muslim community, both young and old. "It is sheer hypocrisy for Muslims to complain of Islamophobia in every nook and cranny of British public life, to denounce the newspapers for running Muslim-baiting headlines, and yet ignore the rampant anti-Semitism in our own backyard. We cannot credibly fight Islamophobia while making excuses for Judaeophobia." |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #3 You'd be surprised, Besoeker. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2013-03-23 15:29 |
| #2 Probably not openly celebrated yet at Eton. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-03-23 08:18 |
| #1 World's worst-kept secret. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2013-03-23 08:09 |