There is an interesting article over at New English Review by an author called Esmeralda Weatherwax, which is I believe a pseudonym, about the current issue with Islam-derived Jew hatred that is plaguing Britain. The article, based on an interview that the Communities secretary Robert Jenrick gave to the Daily Telegraph, draws attention to something that Mr Jenrick said and which should not be ignored.
According to the New English Review article, Mr Jenrick said that the recent upsurge in Jew hatred showed “signs of something more pernicious” than “casual anti-Semitism” and warned of “extremist groups operating in our midst”. My response to that would be to say: ‘No shit Sherlock!’ It’s plainly obvious that the upsurge in Jew hatred in Britain is not being driven by the remnants and dregs of Mosleyism or similar ideologies, but instead is being driven by Islam.
The article adds that UK government ministers are ‘fearful’ that the rise in Jew hatred is a signifier of a rise in Islamic extremism. I believe that the Ministers are right to be fearful about this. In fact I would say that they need to be more than just ‘fearful’ they need to recognise that their fears have been made a reality. Islamic extremism is driving the rise in Jew hatred, nobody but a fool or a blinkered ideologue would deny such a thing. Whilst I recognise that not every Muslim is an extremist or a Jew hater, I also cannot deny that extremism and Jew hatred are somewhat of a common currency in Islamic communities in the UK.
Of course, according to the New English Review article, the government promise most faithfully that they will ‘redouble’ their efforts to tackle Islamic extremism, but redouble what exactly? The current set of policies regarding Islamic extremism really don’t seem to have worked have they? I reckon that all we will get is yet more hand-wringing and gesturing but nothing concrete to oppose Islamic supremacists or extremists. I suspect that what we will see from this government is more of the failed policies towards Islamic extremism that we’ve had already. I suspect that the government will hire a few more self appointed Muslim ‘community leaders’ and a few more Islamic grievance mongers to make the right noises about extremism, tweak the worthless and ineffective ‘PREVENT’ scheme and issue guidance to police forces that will probably be ignored by senior officers who seem intent on appeasing Islamic groups and interests. I doubt very much that there will be anything like the policies that need to be brought in such as the close supervision of Imams, stringent vetting to ‘Developed Vetting’ standard, of Muslim advisors to government, the regulation of mosques and madrassas and a generally much more Islamosceptic set of policies that put security and cohesion ahead of the current ‘lets be nice to Islam’ policies.
Sadly I see Mr Jenrick’s nice words about dealing with Islamic extremism as sound and fury that signifies sod all.
The Tories shouldn’t be afraid to crack down ruthlessly upon Islamist extremism because they are not by and large dependent on the Muslim vote. Deporting all imams who promote hate and all foreign nationals who are a risk to society either through terrorism or violent crime would make them look good and attract more votes in elections. Also a points based immigration system instead of our present chaos would please the electorate. Plus if Labour publically opposed such measures it would cause them even more damage. The Tories after 11 years in power still haven’t enacted these things even though by doing so they would Inc read their public support. I can’t figure out why they have let this fester for so long F211.
I agree that if the Tories had a big push against Islamic extremism it would garner them a lot of votes. I think that they’ve let this fester as they are frightened of being tagged as ‘the nasty party’ again by the media. You also have to factor in that the Tory party today is not like the Tory party of yesterday. There are Tories sitting in the Commons whose views are not that different from those espoused by the Lib Dems fifteen years ago. In addition to this the govt is hampered by a civil service that not only leans left and stands in the way of doing stuff that needs to be done, for example being honest about the Islamic Rape Gang problem, but which has also allowed itself to be infiltrated by those pushing either a false view of Islam as a religion of peace or who wish to censor any negative views on Islam.
I do agree that if the Tories took a proper stand against Islamic extremism it would have two major impacts. The first is that it would destroy Labour as a potential governing party and also benefit those Muslims who live in fear of the violent extremists in their midst. Imagine if you will what it would be like for a moderate British Jew if the entire Jewish community and all its organs were run by hard right Kahanists who intimidated or ostracised anyone who spoke against them, then you have some idea what it is like for those Muslims who wear their religion lightly or who wish to abandon it.