Thanks Wes, but take a stand on Gaza!

Last week a Muslim primary school in Ilford and a mosque also in east London received threatening letters. The letter sent to the school is addressed “Dear pedophiles” (sic) and signed “your terrorist friend”; the author informs us he is sad more Palestinians did not die and threatens them with a surprise in the post at 9am last Friday, which failed to materialise. Friends of mine who are of Indian or Subcontinental background suggest that the word order and the words used (‘rascals’ used as an actual insult, for example) is characteristic of Indian use of English, which suggests that a Hindu extremist is behind it. The local MP is Wes Streeting, who wrote a letter to the Home Secretary (posted as an image on Twitter) asking “what steps this government has taken to act against this rise in Islamophobia”, urged them to release funding for “security and reassurance measures to safeguard Muslim communities from hatred and discrimination”, and to again consider adopting the APPG (All Party Parliamentary Group) definition of Islamophobia.

I’m a Muslim, I don’t have children and don’t live in Ilford. But it’s not enough for MPs to take a stand only when Muslims are being attacked in their own backyard. We need politicians to take a stand on violence and hatred against Muslims globally, most significantly right now the genocide in Gaza. This is not only because it’s enormously upsetting to Muslims here to see our brothers and sisters suffering and being killed in brutal ways anywhere, but also because these letters were not sent by people outraged at the terrorist attacks in October; they were from people emboldened by the Israeli response and by the free hand given to them by politicians in western countries, including the UK and this includes Labour politicians who repeated platitudes about “Israel’s right to self-defence” as the massacres began. This appalling dereliction gave dictators and others around the world who have no regard for human rights a signal that they too, had a free hand and the consequences could be far worse than a couple of threatening letters in London.

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