The collusion between the far Left and the Islamists

Last week, the all party parliamentary committee on anti-semitism released a report. Its findings, reported last week in The Times, say that an alliance has developed between far-Right groups and Islamist extremists who are united in their hatred of Jews, Israel and Zionism and are contributing to increasing anti-Semitism in Britain. The report criticises police forces for failing adequately to monitor anti-Jewish incidents. It calls on the Crown Prosecution Service to investigate why fewer than one in ten reported incidents leads to a prosecution.

The report found that Arabic translations of Mein Kampf and The Protocols of the Elders of Zion were stocked in Arabic bookshops in London. Of particular concern to the inquiry was anti-Semitism on campuses, with literature being distributed that called for the killing of Jews and the destruction of Israel. The report calls on the Government, the media, academics, politicians and community leaders to understand and treat anti-Semitism in the same way as any other form of racism.

Unfortunately, an equally pressing problem is the sinister alliance that has been struck between the Left and the Islamists. No one has put this better than Stefan Bialoguski who wrote the following letter to the Times:

Sir, Anti-Israel activists perpetuate the myth that those who criticise the Jewish state are invariably accused of anti-Semitism (“Police accused of inaction as anti-Jewish alliance emerges”, Sept 7). This is ironic given that anyone who questions the racism, misogyny and aggression exhibited by thousands of Muslims around the world is clubbed with the word “Islamophobe”.

Contrary to the report of the All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into anti-Semitism, almost all the anti-Jewish propaganda that successfully influences mainstream society emanates from the Left, not from an alliance between Muslims and the extreme Right. Leftists of various hues regularly march with Islamic radicals and co-opt “peace” marches, anti- globalisation rallies and just about any cause de jour to condemn Israel and its supporters.

It should come as no surprise that the only matters on which the far Right and the far Left agree are their condemnation of Israel and contempt for Jews. The difference is that the Left usually gets away with it.