Yesterday, I was pulled up by a friend who is local member of the Jewish community in Mill Hill. He was extremely cross with me. Yesterday, I did a slot at around 12.10 on Eddie Nestor's mid morning show on BBC Radio London. The feature is called Trends at 12. Just before my slot, the news broke about the awful attacks in Golders Green. I was actually at my brothers house in Bristol, celebrating is 80th Birthday. What happens is that you get a call a few minutes before your slot. I had pre-prepared topics to discuss and I wasn't aware of the story or the details. Eddie didn't ask me about it and the slot was cut short due to the importance of the story. However my friend was very cross at me. He said "You are a local community leader, you have the most read blog in Barnet, you stood for council in areas with large Jewish areas on several occasions and you were on a London Radio show and the silence was deafening on the attack. You have a view one everything else, but you couldn't say one word on an unprovoked attack on two innocent Jewish Barnet residents". I was quite taken aback at the anger in his voice. I completely understood what he was saying. The subtext of what he was saying is that I really wasn't too bothered about the whole thing.
My reply? I told him that I was unaware of the news before I went on the air, I didn't know any of the details as it was a breaking story and Eddie cut me short as I was about to say something. I added that I would post a blog this morning on the subject to make my views 100% clear. I don't think he accepted my explanation and stated that he would be interested to see what I had to say. So here it is.
Any attack on anyone walking down the street in the UK is deplorable. There can never, ever be any justification for attacking a stranger. When the motivation is because they belong to an identifyable ethnic minorty, such as a member of the Jewish community is clearly a deplorable racist attack and no one can ever justify it in any circumstances. There can be no whataboutery in this matter. The police must take whatever actions they can to prevent such attacks, as is possible in a liberal democracy such as the UK.
I don't know the details of this case. I don't know if there were any red flags or whether it was just a dangerous individual with mental health issues. It seems to me that in many previous cases, there was intelligence that could have prevented the attack. If this is the case in this instance, then the Met must learn the lessons. It has been suggested that elements within the Iranian regime are fermenting such incidents. If this is the case, then clearly we should take the actions that we take when our citizens are at threat from hostile foreign governments. If this means expelling diplomats or deporting non UK nationals, then this should be done. Clearly the Police also need to act on intellgence, if it is clear that UK nationals are involved in planning organised terror attacks against the Jewish comminity.
That is only half of the problem. The other half is well demonstrated that a friend who I've known for years felt so let down by me. When a community is under attack, the members of that community should receive support from across the whole community. The local Jewish community is a massive part of my life and always has been. Just a few examples. I went to Orange Hill Senior High School and maybe half of my friends their were Jewish, one of my first girlfriends was Jewish, the drummer in our band was Jewish, one of our vocalists was Jewish, we played some of our first gigs at the Jewish Youth Club in Kenton, where he was a member. A member of the Mill Hill Music Festival Organising Committee is Jewish, we've organised events at the local Shul. Many of the customers of my business are Jewish, we have Jewish members of staff. In short, the Jewish community is and always has played a massive, positive role in my life.
Until very recently I never gave things a second thought. I could write similar things about many local communities, Irish, West Indian, Asian, etc. I've never given a thought to such matters until very recently. But it is the Jewish community who are under the cosh at the moment and as someone who has been identified as a community leader, I have to speak out. I have to state, unequivocably, that I stand with the local Jewish Community at this time and I am not blind to the issues they face.
There can be no doubt that global issues are being used by some to pour petrol on the fire of anti semitic hate. It would be dishonest to pretend otherwise. But NOTHING can justify anyone performing acts of random violence against members of any community in our society. ANYONE who is planning acts that terrorise and scare members of any community should attract the full force of the UK legal system.
Whatever you may think about events anywhere in the world, if you think that attacking random people, who you don't know is the solution, then you are the problem. It is as simple as that. I hope that this sets the record straight with regards to my friend.
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