Faith Matters has been working on projects tackling Far Right and other forms of extremism, including those who manipulate and use faith to promote extremist political ideologies or messages. We have worked for over 9 years, since 7/7, on how extremist ideologies can be tackled and we have done so with civil society groups and our Government. We have also worked with a range of faith leaders and women’s and youth groups up and down the country and internationally, including in places like the West Bank in Palestine.
Operation Cast Lead, which took place in 2008/2009, led to community tensions in the UK and there were polarised positions between Jewish and Muslim communities at that time. Acrimony, antisemitism, anti-Muslim rhetoric and stereotypes were abound, yet, the Government of the time held various community meetings to explain the Government’s position and to listen to a range of community groups. Whilst Operation Cast Lead continued, at the very least, there was a desire for community engagement.
Operation Protective Edge that has taken place in Gaza, seems to be more intensive and far more destructive than Cast Lead. Furthermore, the community impacts of Protective Edge have been greater than Cast Lead and many of us believed that this could not be possible given that they were sustained and concerted during Cast Lead. The short, medium and long term implications for community relations are yet to be seen and we suspect that interfaith work will continue though with distrust and anger not far from a discussion when the crisis is mentioned. This is also why, the ‘elephant in the room,’ which has not been mentioned for the last decade in interfaith discussions, will simply get larger and larger as Operation Protective Edge has further polarised opinions on Israel and Palestine, and in this case, Gaza.
Furthermore, many of the Jihadi videos have, on many occasions, talked about foreign policy being the cause of extremist responses. We do not believe that this is the full picture, though it is clear that grievances about foreign policy are certainly one driver. One of the 7/7 bombers, Shehzad Tanweer, repeated that Palestine was an ongoing grievance and sore and through our work, we can honestly say, that generation after generation do not step back from the Palestine conflict, but become more angry at what they see as the double standards in human rights when Palestinians are killed. The anger during this latest round of hostilities is the greatest that we have seen and felt.
Since 2008 the Prevent programme, (part of CONTEST), has placed resources, project and ministerial time into tackling extremism within the United Kingdom. Yet, when the issue of the Middle East has been raised, civil servants have acknowledged that it is a grievance that extremists have used, though nothing has materialised from these discussions. After Operation Protective Edge, given the level of anger and mistrust, we believe that the Prevent programme needs to address and provide platforms for young people to be able to meet, in some cases, challenge and question senior members of this Government so that there is an outlet for their concerns. Hiding away and hoping that the issue will go away is no strategy, it is a failure in leadership and also puts all of us, black, white or brown, male or female, at real risk. Now is the time for this Government to show true leadership on the Israel/Palestine issue, but we fear it may be too late.