Episodes like Pahalgam, and attacks in Britain on the Jewish community, are so appalling that they should elicit an emotional response from all of us
The recent attack on the Jewish community in Golders Green took place almost exactly one year, to the day, after the horrific atrocity in Pahalgam in Kashmir. In both cases, innocent people were subjected to brutal violence because of their ethnicity and their faith. This coincidence of dates was a grim reminder that both India and the UK face on an ever-present threat from extremist Islamist terrorism.
When I was growing up, antisemitism seemed to be a relic of a misguided past, something that would steadily fade into history. It is appalling to see this poison revived and strengthened in 21st century Britain; present on the internet, on campus, and on our streets.
It was a source of shock and sadness to me that people were violently stabbed when they were only going about their day-to-day lives on the streets of the UK’s capital city. It feels frighteningly close to home when terrorists strike in Golders Green, just a mile or two from the Chipping Barnet constituency I represented for 19 years as a member of the House of Commons, and which continues to be my home.
Although further away, I felt the same sense of personal impact when I heard what happened in Pahalgam twelve months ago. It is truly sickening to think of young people gathered at a beautiful holiday spot, their lives savagely cut short by callous and cowardly extremists who asked their victims what their religion was before gunning them down.
I am convinced that in both India and the UK, the vast majority reject hatred and division and believe in mutual respect between different communities and traditions. As democracies, the task of combating the minority who do not subscribe to this consensus – those who spread hatred, fear and violent extremism – is a central political and security challenge of our time. We must all be willing to call out these people.
For years now, ever since the vile Hamas attacks of 7th October 2023, every Saturday much of central London has been brought to a halt by marches protesting about the situation in Gaza. Whilst most participants have behaved in an orderly manner, within the law, others have repeatedly displayed antisemitic imagery and called for the “globalization of the Intifada”. That slogan is an incitement to kill Jewish people.
I appreciate that public order policing is difficult and complex; and I am grateful to Sir Mark Rowley, Commission of the Metropolitan Police, for his thoughtful responses to the many concerns I have raised with him about these demonstrations. But at times it has felt as if those waving their hate-speech banners have been allowed to operate with impunity.
Extremists have used these marches to seek to normalize antisemitism. We saw the deadly consequences of that in Golders Green and in the earlier attack at Heaton Park synagogue in Manchester. Sadly, we have also seen the Hindu community subjected to hate crime in Britain. That includes the targeting of Hindu homes, businesses and temples in Leicester in 2022. This painful episode was misreported and misunderstood by the mainstream media who wrote it up as an example of inter-communal tension, as opposed to the anti-Hindu hate crime that it was.
The UK intelligence services have recently raised the threat level to “severe” meaning a terror attack is believed to be “highly likely”. Pahalgam illustrates the lethality of the terrorists that the Indian authorities face in Kashmir. I appreciate that the UK and India already have close trade and security ties. But this is an increasingly polarized, dangerous and uncertain world. I hope we see efforts to deepen cooperation between the two countries as we look to counter our common enemy – the forces of violent Islamist extremism.
With news bulletins filled on a daily basis with reports of conflict around the world, there is a danger that people can become numb and desensitized. But episodes like Pahalgam, and attacks in Britain on the Jewish community, are so appalling that they penetrate that barrier and should elicit an emotional response from all of us, as we think of the people who have perished and the lives which have been lost. During nearly four years as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, I had the privilege of meeting victims and survivors. For many of them, the pain of their loss was still raw, even decades after the crime which harmed them.
I pay tribute to the bravery and resilience of those who have lost loved ones to terrorism. For their sake, we must work together to combat violent extremism in all its forms.
The Right Honourable Dame Theresa Villiers DBE, was MP from 2005 to 2024 and is former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
