Last month’s Texas synagogue siege was a watershed moment for the United Kingdom – it essentially exported an anti-Jewish Islamist terrorist to a fellow western country and close security ally in the shape of the United States. Holding people hostage at the Congregation Beth Israel, 44-year-old British-Pakistani Muslim Malik Faisal Akram was eventually shot dead by the police and SWAT teams. This anti-Jewish Islamist terror incident has thrust antisemitism in British Muslim communities into the spotlight. With existing research showing that anti-Jewish views and antisemitic conspiratorial beliefs are at relatively high levels in British Muslim communities when compared to the general population, the Texas synagogue siege should be treated as a wake-up call.

Moving forwards, how can we tackle Islamist antisemitism and strengthen Muslim-Jewish relations in the UK? What are the main institutional and cultural barriers in place when to comes to combatting anti-Jewish hate in British Muslim communities? Does the British political establishment currently take enough action over forms of discrimination and hatred within racial and religious minorities?

The Henry Jackson Society welcomes you to join this event where we will tackle these kinds of questions and discuss how the UK should respond to the Texas synagogue siege.

Elizabeth Arif-Fear is an award-winning British-Muslim activist who is passionate about protecting human rights, promoting peace, and strengthening intercultural and interfaith cohesion. Her main interests include women’s rights, refugee and migrant rights and issues surrounding multiculturalism, anti-extremism and community cohesion – in particular, Jewish-Muslim relations.

A dedicated writer and campaigner, Elizabeth works in fundraising and communications in the human rights sector and volunteers with a range of organisations and bodies dedicated to promoting peace, reconciliation and inclusion, strengthening interfaith cohesion and eradicating prejudice. She is Founder and Director of Voice of Salam, trustee of Muslims Against Antisemitism (MAAS)  and has written for a range of organisations/publications including: Globe Post, Haaretz, She Speaks We Hear and Jewish News.

In 2019, Elizabeth won the St. Ethelburga’s award for Sacred Activist of the Year, whilst also publishing her debut poetry collection. More recently, Elizabeth took part in the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) 2020 fellowship programme which focused on peace in the age of new media and is now delighted to be a KAICIID fellow on their 2022 programme specialising in intercultural and interreligious dialogue.

Fiyaz Mughal OBE is a founding trustee of the interfaith charity Muslims Against Antisemitism (MAAS). His working history includes over 18 years’ experience in the community and voluntary sectors in positions that have included social policy lobbying, project and general management, conflict resolution work, and working with leading organizations as the Chief Operating Officer.

Fiyaz has also worked in a number of organizations providing training to women through to European transnational faith-related programmes, and advice and information projects. Fiyaz served as a trustee of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust for six years. He was also the director of Faith Matters (2005-2020), which he founded. Faith Matters is a trusted not-for-profit organisation that for over twelve years has worked to tackle extremism and to build resilience within various faith and other communities in the UK, Europe and the Middle East. Fiyaz is also the founder of the anti-Muslim hate crime monitoring project, Tell MAMA. Tell MAMA is the leading project countering anti-Muslim hate and prejudice in the UK. It is a measuring and reporting service and provides advice, signposting, emotional and case support for victims.

In June 2009 Fiyaz was honoured by Her Majesty the Queen and was bestowed with the Honour of the Order of the British Empire.

Wasiq Wasiq is an Associate Fellow at Henry Jackson Society. As a founding trustee for the charity Muslims Against Antisemitism (MAAS) – Wasiq is a leading voice against all forms of antisemitism, hate and prejudice against Jewish communities worldwide. Moreover, with a particular expertise in Islamism, Wasiq has been raising the issue of how non-violent Islamism is threatening western democracies. Wasiq has a BA (Hons) in Music Technology, a Masters in Educational Leadership from UCL. Wasiq is currently completing Ph.D in War Studies at King’s College London. Most recently, Wasiq was one of two lay advisors on the Singh Investigation into alleged discrimination and ‘Islamophobia’ in the Conservative Party. The report concluded that allegations of institutional racism against the Party were not borne out by the evidence available to the Investigation. This ground breaking and historic report was fully accepted by the Conservative Party whom have now agreed to all recommendations. Wasiq currently writes extensively on matters of antisemitism, extremism and terrorism for a number of well-known media outlets such as: Harry’s Place, Jewish News, Spiked and The Mallard. Furthermore, Wasiq has also appeared on broadcast media such as GB News and LBC.

Dr Rakib Ehsan is a research fellow who sits in both the Henry Jackson Society’s Centre on Radicalisation & Terrorism (CRT) and Centre on Social & Political Risk (CSPR). He holds a BA in Politics & International Relations (First-Class Honours), MSc in Democracy, Politics and Governance (Pass with Distinction), and a PhD in Political Science, all obtained from Royal Holloway, University of London. His PhD thesis, which was comprehensively sponsored by the Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC), investigated the impact of social integration on the public attitudes of British non-white ethnic minorities.

Since joining the Henry Jackson Society in March 2019, Dr Ehsan has authored a number of reports incorporating matters of social cohesion and national security, including Muslim Anti-Semitism in Contemporary Great Britain and Weaponising COVID-19: Far-Right Anti-Semitism in the United Kingdom and United States.

Following last month’s Texas synagogue siege, he authored articles for the Jewish Chronicle, Mail Plus, CapX and Sp!ked on antisemitism in British Muslim communities. He is a patron of the interfaith charity Muslims Against Antisemitism (MAAS).

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EVENT SUMMARY

On the 22^nd September 2022, Dr Rakib Ehsan, Research Fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, Wasiq Wasiq, Associate Fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, Fiyaz Mughal OBE, Founder of the anti-Muslim hate crime monitoring project Tell MAMA, and Eliabeth Arif-Fear, Founder and Director of Voice of Salam, discuss the best ways to tackle Islamist antisemitism, why it has been able to fester and how to improve Muslim-Jewish relations in the UK.

Dr Ehsan began the discussion by introducing the speakers as well as summarising the topic of discussion. Fiyaz Mughal explained how antisemitism and Islamism have fused together and the role Haj Amin Al-Husseini had in importing and giving religious justification to Nazi antisemitism to the Islamic world and how this inspired the Muslim Brotherhood. Elizabeth Arif-Fear then discussed the best ways to combat Islamic antisemitism and strengthen Muslim-Jewish relations as well as relating a dramatic increase in antisemitic hate crime to the 2021 Palestine-Israel conflict. Wasiq Wasiq defined Islamism and the three types of Islamists, the violent, non-violent and participationist, and argued that participationists have done the most to mainstream antisemitism. He stated they have adopted the language of CRT to target Jews and cooperate with the far left.

The event closed with Dr Ehsan asking the panellists some questions on the apparent reluctance to confront Islamic antisemitism in the media, who is blocking attempts to strengthen Muslim-Jewish relations, and if some groups are intentionally minimising crimes involving Muslims. The panellists also put forward policy proposals to combat these issues.