Nadine Osman
More than 50 survivors of terror attacks “driven by Islamist extremists” have urged politicians to stop equating British Muslims with “extremism”.
In an open letter published on March 10, a group of 58 survivors said such language would fuel anti-Muslim sentiments in the UK and said using it was the “height of irresponsibility”.
The group warn it is the “height of irresponsibility” for some politicians to equate “being Muslim with being an extremist”.
“The single most important thing we can do is to isolate the extremists and the terrorists from the vast majority of British Muslims who deplore such violence,” the letter adds. Those who have signed the letter comprise individuals directly affected by terrorist attacks and their loved ones.
Among them is Rebecca Rigby, whose husband Lee tragically lost his life in May 2013, victimized by two extremists near the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, south-east London. Additionally, Justine Merton-Scott, who survived the harrowing events of the November 2015 attack on the Bataclan Theatre in Paris, and Michelle Hussain, who emerged from the May 2017 bombing of the Manchester Arena.
“This is not only wrong in itself, it makes the job of the Islamist extremists easier and plays into the hands of terrorists… We also know where anti-Muslim hate can lead,” they say. “While Islamist-inspired extremism is our country’s most pressing terror threat, it is not our only one – and responding to it by feeding far-right extremism, dividing our communities, and exaggerating the risk will feed a cycle of extremism that will put more people at risk. It is the height of irresponsibility.”
Also among the letter’s signatories is Magen Inon, whose parents were killed in Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7 last year. The warning also came after Conservative MP Lee Anderson,who was suspended in late February after he refused to apologise for comments that claimed London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer were “controlled by Islamists”.
Separately, former Home Secretary Suella Braverman wrote in a February 22 opinion piece in The Telegraph that “Islamists are bullying Britain into submission” and that “Islamist cranks and leftwing extremists” held influence “in our judiciary, our legal profession and our universities”.
The letter was published before Communities Secretary Michael Gove unveiled a contentious and “non-statutory” new definition of extremism, which specifically singled out several Muslim organisations, such as the Muslim Association of Britain and Cage, stating that the government intended to “hold them to account” based on the new definition due to their “Islamist orientation.”
Photo: Justine Merton-Scott, a survivor of the harrowing November 2015 attack on the Bataclan Theatre in Paris, is among over 50 survivors of terror attacks who are calling on politicians to stop equating British Muslims with “extremism.” (Credit: WhoCanIVoteFor/CC)
