The threat of Islamist anti-Semitism is too lethal to ignore

Counter-terrorism police revealed last week that Jihad Al-Shamie’s attack on Jewish worshippers at a synagogue in Manchester was likely influenced by ‘extreme Islamist ideology’. Ever since, I have repeatedly been asked one particular question: what can moderate Muslims do to root out the threat of radical Islamism in our midst?

We have known of this threat for too long. Back in 2020, I warned that while the UK had then yet to suffer a lethal Islamist terrorist attack specifically targeting Jews, there was no room for complacency.

There had long been warning signs. Back in July 2012, married couple Mohammed Sajid Khan and Shasta Khan were both jailed for planning terror attacks on Jewish targets in Greater Manchester. After a domestic dispute at their home, police discovered a stash of terror-related material which included beheading videos, Islamist propaganda glorifying Osama bin Laden, and bomb-making manuals. Another married couple, Ummarayiat Mirza and Madihah Taheer, were both sentenced to prison in December 2017 for plotting a terror attack in Birmingham. Targets included a city-centre synagogue.

Then there was Malik Faisal Akram, a British Muslim from Blackburn, Lancashire. His growing Islamism had caught the attention of Britain’s security services and he was placed on a watchlist as a ‘subject of interest’ in 2020 before being removed by officials the following year. A few months later, in January 2022, he travelled to New York, before heading to Texas. There he entered the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, and took four Jewish hostages. After an 11-hour siege, he was shot dead by law enforcement and the hostages freed unharmed.

All these incidents should have drawn attention to the growing threat posed by radical Islamism to Jews. British Muslim civil-society organisations can certainly play a role in tackling this threat. Indeed, some, such as Muslims Against Antisemitism (MAAS) – an interfaith charity founded by Fiyaz Mughal OBE – are already seeking to address the disproportionately high levels of anti-Semitism within Muslim communities.

Yet at the same time, there is a risk of holding British Muslims collectively responsible for the actions of anti-Jewish Islamists. It shouldn’t solely fall to ordinary British Muslims to tackle militant Islamists. Those posing a threat to wider public safety need to be tackled primarily by the state – that is, by the police and intelligence services. It is worth noting that Al-Shamie was already on police bail after being arrested on suspicion of rape earlier this year. Questions need to be asked of the police’s handling of this clearly dangerous individual, and whether more could have been done to protect the public.

There are also serious questions to be asked about the UK’s immigration and asylum policies. After all, it is this failing system that has too often welcomed Islamists from dysfunctional parts of the Middle East with open arms. Indeed, it granted the Syria-born Al-Shamie British citizenship back in 2006.

Part of the problem is that the authorities haven’t listened to British Muslims when they have raised the alarm over Islamist extremism. Before carrying out the Manchester Arena suicide bombing in May 2017, Islamist terrorist Salman Abedi was banned from a mosque for his pro-ISIS views. Relatives and members of the local community warned the authorities of Abedi’s radical beliefs, but to no avail.

This is not a surprise. The British state is not equipped to hear the concerns of ordinary British Muslims about the threat in our midst. State-sponsored multiculturalism has tended to treat the more vocal, assertive and extremist elements of our communities as the authentic voice of Muslims – as our so-called community leaders. All too often, these figures have tended to champion the Islamist regulation of the public sphere, silencing and ring-fencing Islamism from criticism, all in the name of protecting minority rights and tackling ‘Islamophobia’.

The challenge of addressing Islamist extremism and combating the normalisation of anti-Semitism across society is certainly not the sole responsibility of British Muslims. It needs all of us to contribute. It needs hard-headed thinking about immigration policies and border security, as well as issues of integration and identity. We need to reflect seriously on who should be able to live freely here and who shouldn’t.

Above all, the British state needs to abandon its failed model of multiculturalism. For too long, the views of a hardline minority of Muslims have been privileged above all others. It’s time the law-abiding and anti-extremist majority made themselves heard.

Rakib Ehsan is the author of Beyond Grievance: What the Left Gets Wrong about Ethnic Minorities, which is available to order on Amazon.