Juveriah Alam says those Muslim imams pushing normalisation with Zionists under the guise of “improving community relations” do not represent the Muslim community in any shape our form.
We know that Israel seeks to normalise relations with Saudi Arabia and other Muslim-majority countries. We also know that this normalisation project has spilled into Britain. Here, it disguises itself as “interfaith,” giving Zionism the opportunity to be tolerated and accepted within British Muslim circles.
This week a small group of Muslims and Jews announced that they had a “secret” meeting last month in a Scottish castle. This meeting led to the signing of a Muslim-Jewish “reconciliation” agreement which was presented on Tuesday to King Charles at Buckingham Palace. The Drumlanrig Accord purports to set out “a new framework for engagement” between Britain’s Muslims and Jews “built on mutual respect, dialogue, and practical collaboration.”
According to The Times, the summit was attended by “Britain’s most senior Jewish and Muslim faith leaders” and the signing of the accords was “historic.” There was an obvious attempt to evoke a sense of awe and mystique with this event, making it quite probable that the paper was invited especially by the interfaith group as part of a calculated publicity stunt.
British Muslims will not be fooled
But British Muslims will not be fooled. The Zionist normalisation project has previously taken many forms, including a Jewish-Muslim women’s group and an interfaith vigil to “mourn lives lost in Israel and Gaza.” This latest initiative is a similar farce. The claim that this agreement is “historic” is both a vast overstatement and entirely unfounded, particularly as it fails to resonate with British Muslims.
It is also a lie that the Muslim figures in attendance were “senior” faith leaders. Imam Qari Asim of Leeds and the Shia imam Dr Sayed Razawi, among others, are hardly household names. Frankly, most British Muslims have never heard of any of them. Why is that? Because simply, you’d be hard pressed to find a mildly respected Muslim figure who would be willing to attend this sham of a spectacle.
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No God-fearing Muslim would share a platform of any kind with Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, who has on record praised the IDF and stated that he is “immensely proud” of their actions in Gaza. He stated last year: “What Israel is doing is the most outstanding possible thing that a decent, responsible country can do for its citizens.” He also revealed that this son, Danny, was serving in the IDF in Gaza.
Furthermore, the prominence of well-known Jewish figures, particularly Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, compared to the relatively unknown Muslims present, highlights the power dynamics at play and suggests who is leading this initiative. Only one party has something substantial to gain from this.
Normalisation project
What they have dubbed as the “Drumlanrig Accord” is just a part of the wider Israeli normalisation project and has two main purposes. First, to make Zionism palatable amongst British Muslims and second, to alienate Palestinians and their supporters. We can imagine how a person living in Gaza would feel at the sight of British Muslims happily meeting with known Zionists who support Israel’s war on Gaza.
Just like the wider normalisation project, this is a deliberate attempt to demoralise and dishearten supporters of the Palestinian cause, making them feel that further struggle is futile. The goal is to break their spirit and ultimately end their resistance. This kind of tactic relies on psychological manipulation and would not be possible without certain, handpicked, token Muslims dutifully playing their part.
They want Muslims to discard the Palestinian cause altogether and instead focus on community cohesion where we live. They want us to forget the plight of Muslims around the world and reject the idea of an Ummah. In return, we are promised more funding for our mosques or more protection against Islamophobia.
They want Muslims to think we have a shared cause with Zionists – that Islamophobia and antisemitism are two sides of the same coin and we need to come together to fight the far-right. It would be nice if that were true. But it isn’t. the truth is, for decades, the Zionist movement has pushed Islamophobia closer and closer into the mainstream – many of the anti-Muslim slurs and conspiracy theories that we hear from the far-right today originate from Zionist material earlier this century.
Token Muslims
Despite this, there will always be some token Muslims available to fill this spot.
And this has been the case throughout history, where “compliant members” of marginalised groups are selected to create a facade of unity or agreement. During Apartheid South Africa, the government created territories designated for black South Africans and appointed compliant leaders from these communities to govern these areas, presenting it as a form of self-rule. It was intended to legitimise the apartheid system and give the appearance of participation – while the real power remained with the white minority. Sound familiar?
So shame on all those involved in this latest attempt to give legitimacy to the genocidal ideology of Zionism – especially while pretending to care about community cohesion. It is very sad to see how no effort has been made to understand the true relationship between Muslims and Jews in Britain.
And the reality is that Muslims and Jews have been doing meaningful interfaith over the past 15 months – by marching together against Israel’s genocide in Gaza. As Dr Asim Quereshi from CAGE said on X: “Anti-fascist and anti-Zionist Muslims and Jews know very well how to work together – and are united in their call for ending settler colonialism in all its forms.”
Finally, to the establishment, please, enough of these lazy and embarrassing bridge-building exercises. Tackle the root causes of the tension in our communities – Britain’s support for genocide being one of them – and engage with religious figures who have real grassroot support.
