OpEd: anti-semitism 20-01-15

The commentators 20-01-15

...on anti-semitism and Islam

Historically, and compared to the terrible hardships people endure in so much of the world, we live in a truly privileged time and place. The very idea that 56% of Jewish people responding to an online survey said they believed anti-semitism now “echoes the 1930s” and 58% that Jews have “no long-term future in Europe” is extraordinary, surreal.
- David Conn, The Guardian

The factors behind the recent upsurge in violence include the increased fragility of several states in the aftermath of the revolutions in the Arab world — as well as the amplifying effect of social media, which allows jihadi messages to spread fast and to reach ever-larger audiences.
- Gideon Rachman, Financial Times

Theresa May should repeal the Human Rights Act; close down Islamist websites; stop our prisons being used as al-Qaeda recruiting offices; shut down mosques and religious schools which foment terrorism; prosecute and deport foreign hate preachers; and lock up those fanatics with British passports. Unless this happens then waving a placard reading ‘Je suis Juif’ is just another worthless piece of political posturing.
- Richard Littlejohn, Daily Mail

After the 7/7 bombings ample funding was earmarked for thousands of one-on-one deradicalisation sessions as part of the Prevent programme. That funding has been cut. Other initiatives have been piecemeal. There is a glimmer of hope in the efforts of Muslim mothers to turn their children away from extremism. British and Muslim values are indeed compatible, but only to the extent that British Islam commits itself to tolerance.
- The Times