My two shekels: How can we show solidarity with Muslims in the face of rising online Islamophobia?
How can we show solidarity with Muslims in the face of rising online Islamophobia?
As Pastor Martin Niemöller so famously captured in his poem: “…Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me.” So what do we do when we see them coming for Muslims on social media, in inflammatory headlines demonising an entire population with sensationalised claims, in tweets and Facebook posts that make the most sweeping and outrageous generalisations?
It may seem like a no-brainer to stand up against racism and Islamophobia, but how much do we confront its prominence as individuals and as a Jewish community?
Try typing “everyday Islamophobia” into Google. It’s painful to watch the videos. In October, a pregnant Muslim woman was verbally assaulted on a bus. It happened to an elderly Muslim man, too, in a separate incident. I fear I can hear laughing in the background.
Thankfully, there are stories of ordinary people standing up in defence of their Muslim neighbours. But a month later, how much harder has everyday life become for British Muslims? We as Jews in Britain are sometimes subject to slights and slurs, looks and violence; do we turn away from this when Jews are not the immediate victims? I have started to “defriend” people and report posts on Facebook. A picture appeared in my feed in which the faces of monkeys morphed into those of Muslim men, with the line “and to think they call us monkeys and pigs”. I saw an exchange on Facebook recently in which all Muslims were essentially equated with the murderous group Boko Haram. Someone at a music festival, on finding out I’m a rabbi, once asked “Are you Boko Haram?”
It’s both bewildering and infuriating when we are being hurt and when we are hurting others. Racism and prejudice in all the forms they take, as well as endangering us all, limits our thinking and lives and undermines our Torah. Ben Azzai and Rabbi Akiva disagree about the greatest principle in the Torah: Akiva emphasises that we should love our neighbour as ourself.
Ben Azzai, perhaps aware that we sometimes define the term “neighbour” too narrowly, stresses that humanity was all made in the image of God. When we are complicit in trampling upon the divine in others, we have a biblical responsibility to “reprove our kinsman”.
Private messages may be best to all those good people who share bad material on social media. But, then again, social media is semi-public. It’s about time we recognise the dangerous Islamophobia in the public sphere, and in pockets of our communities. We must stand up for the unique, equal, infinite potential of every human and show zero-tolerance to Islamophobia in social media and beyond.
• Benji Stanley is Reform Judaism’s Rabbi for Young Adults
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
