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Israeli actions in Gaza give U.K. extremists a new lease of life

Announcing a ceasefire in Gaza on Saturday, Israel claimed that it had achieved its “goal” of weakening Hamas — a claim which, of course, remains to be tested. But, certainly, what three weeks of pointless violence has done is to make reactionary Muslim extremism fashionable again — at least in Britain. There is concern that the recent Israeli actions may have given a new lease of life to British extremists just when they had started to look isolated. For the first time since the London terror attacks of July 7, 2005, a sense of normality seemed to be returning to Britain’s perpetually angry Muslim community but the bloodshed in Gaza has changed all that.

The head of MI5, Britain’s domestic secret service, Jonathan Evans has warned that the anger provoked by the killings of hundreds of innocent Palestinians could be used by extremist groups to bounce back and “radicalise individuals for their own purposes.” A concern shared by ministers and progressive Muslims.

“I am very concerned indeed that the events in Gaza could well be used by those people who want to peddle pernicious extremist views to draw particularly vulnerable young people into that kind of extremism,” the Communities Minister Hazel Blears, whose job is to improve relations with the country’s 1.6 million Muslims told the BBC.

Her comments echoed Justice Minister Shahid Malik’s warning that the Gaza events have had a “profoundly acute and unhealthy” effect on Muslims.

Posters calling for “jihad” have appeared in Muslim areas and Islamist websites are reported to be buzzing with angry chatter portraying the Israeli invasion of Gaza as yet another western-backed conspiracy to humiliate Muslims. Those who monitor such websites say that the language being used has a chilling echo of the extremist propaganda that preceded the London bombings.

“They are saying the same sort of things that the ring leader of the London attacks Mohammed Siddique Khan said in his martyrdom video — namely that ‘they are killing our women and children and we will not rest until they are taught a lesson,’” according to Rachel North, who was maimed in the London attacks and has since developed an almost obsessive interest in the activities of extremist groups.

This time they don’t even have to resort to propaganda as facts — staggering as they are — speak for themselves. The sheer scale of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has been so great that all that anyone who wishes to whip up passions in the name of defending Muslims and Islam needs to do is to point to the casualty figures: more than 1,000 dead in 22 days of sustained Israeli bombardment — half of them civilians with children accounting for at least one-third of the civilian casualties according to figures released by independent rights groups.

Gory images of dying children, hospitals overflowing with injured civilians, wailing mothers who have lost their children, people fleeing their homes and reports of death and destruction have been seized by extremist elements to whip up anger and issue calls for jihad. According to a BBC investigation, videos of the human suffering in Gaza are being shown at meetings organised by radical groups.

The Muslim anger has been directed as much against Israel as against Britain which is seen to have “sided” with Israel. Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s initial refusal to condemn Israel’s disproportionate response to Hamas rockets fuelled the perception about Britain’s “partisan” and “pro-Israel” position. Mr. Brown was accused of simply following the American line as his predecessor Tony Blair did over the Iraq invasion and the Israeli attacks on Lebanon in 2006. It took intense public pressure and warnings of a simmering Muslim backlash to force the Government to call the Israeli actions disproportionate.

Meanwhile, shoes were flung at Downing Street demanding a more robust stand and some 100 MPs signed a letter calling for a ban on all U.K. arms exports to Israel, and the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg accused Mr. Brown of “sitting on his hands” while Gaza was burning..

In recent days, there has been a flurry of meetings between Muslim groups and government representatives — and appeals for calm amid fears of anti-Jewish backlash following reports of a number of “anti-semitic” attacks. According to the Community Security Trust, which monitors anti-Semitism, reported that there have been 150 such incidents since the conflict in Gaza began.

Prominent progressive Muslims have condemned the attacks and written to mosques saying that the Muslim anger over the killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza by Israeli forces “does not and cannot, justify attacks on our fellow citizens of Jewish faith and background here in Britain.” On their part secular Jews have been in the forefront of protests disproving the “propaganda” — as the Jewish Rock musician Brian Eno put it — that all those who opposed Israeli actions were “anti-Semitic.”

A group called Jews for Justice for Palestinians has launched a media campaign against the “slaughter in Gaza.” In a full-page advertisement, published in leading newspapers, it called for an arms embargo against Israel and investigation into “war crimes that may have been committed by any party to the conflict.” Similarly, “Independent Jewish Voices” has sent an open letter to Foreign Secretary David Miliband urging him to press the incoming U.S. administration to review America’s “counter-productive and hitherto uncritical support for Israel’s actions and policies.” The letter, signed by leading Jewish scholars, writers and professionals, said the Israeli actions had embarrassed Jews all over the world.

Meanwhile, an interesting debate has started in the blogosphere about why Muslims tend to get worked up over a humanitarian crisis only when it affects other Muslims but remain indifferent when non-Muslims suffer. Kicking off the debate, Riazat Butt, Guardian’s religious correspondent, wrote on her blog that while it was true that the conflict in West Asia had “long been a lightning-rod issue for Muslims” but Muslims didn’t have a “monopoly on this outrage.”

“Besides, if you believe in the ummah then be consistent — not just when you believe there to be a western enemy…. instead of crying foul when it’s just Muslims who are suffering, why not react this way when anyone is affected, regardless of what they believe? When there’s a hurricane, a cyclone or civil unrest that leaves people dead, homeless or in the grip of oppression? It is your duty to protest and react, not because you’re Muslim, but because you’re human. Looking after your own – and only your own – gives the lie to the idea that Islam is a religion of compassion. In fact, it says Islam is a religion of self-interest,” she argued.

And, I am happy to report, that a lot of young Muslim bloggers agreed with her.

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