Dear Editor,

As a member of the Muslim community in Harlow I am routinely amazed at the ignorance of some Harlow folk. On a YourHarlow article published today (March 28) regarding local Muslims celebrating Eid at Latton Bush someone named James commented:

“Stop killing the Jews”. Please note the comment was deleted soon after.

I was tempted to refer James to 78 years of the Jewish State of Israel killing Muslims around the Middle East, but I decided a far reaching history lesson was required.

In delivering this lesson, I sought to draw references from an impeccable, authoritative source which couldn’t be questioned. Therefore, I chose a UK Government Royal Commission on Palestine. As there were more than one, I chose the Peel Royal Commission.

It is named the Peel Commission because of the person chairing it. The Commission’s report was presented to parliament in July 1937 as Command Paper 5479. On page vi it describes the Chairman thus:

“Right Trusty and Right Well-beloved Cousin and Counsellor William Robert
Wellesley, Earl Peel, Knight Grand Commander of Our Most Exalted Order of the Star of India, Knight Grand Cross of Our Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.”

I thought to my myself: “you don’t get any more impeccable Imperialist credentials than that”, but why was Earl Peel and his team appointed in the first place?

The answer to that question is:

“…to ascertain the underlying causes of the disturbances which broke out in Palestine in the middle of April (1936); to enquire into the manner in which the Mandate for Palestine is being implemented in relation to Our obligations as Mandatory towards the Arabs and the Jews respectively; and to ascertain whether, upon a proper construction of the terms of the Mandate, either the Arabs or the Jews have any legitimate grievances upon account of the way in which the Mandate has been, or is being implemented; and if the Comission is satisfied that any such grievances are well founded, to make recommendations for their removal and for the prevention of their recurrence”.

Now, what is the relevance to “Stop killing the Jews”?

Well, Chapter 1 is usually a good place to start and paragraphs 16 and 17 provide the answers. With regards to Muslims allegedly being the “most beastly towards Jews” paragraph 16 says:

“The era of persecution, which was wholly to transform the conditions of Jewish life in the Diaspora, began not in the Moslem world but in the Christian. From the time when the Roman Empire accepted Christianity, Judaism had always been less tolerantly treated by Christian than by Moslem rulers; and the Jews who had penetrated into Italy and Gaul and, after the fall of the Empire, into Germany and England were exposed to various restrictions and prohibitions which tended to mark them off as a distinct and inferior people. Social factors widened the gulf…”

The act of applying “various restrictions and prohibitions” to the immigration of Muslims to Britain is why Muslims feel their status is downgraded and their lives are becoming more intolerable.

Paragraphs 16 and 17 also explain the Roman Empire’s embrace of Christianity and the enmity the Jews faced following the Crucifixion of Jesus. Paragraph 16 says:

“Popular instinct draws away from what is strange, and the Jews – foreigners, foreign-looking, keeping to themselves, clinging to their peculiar faith – were strange. In the eyes of the Church, moreover, they were the worst of heretics. They did not seek, it was true, to convert others, but none refused so
obstinately to be converted. And behind that was the general idea that on all Jews, in all times and places, lay the guilt of the Crucifixion.”

Paragraph 17 makes a connection between the Crusades and hatred of the Jews. If we look at today’s far-right, which frequently tries to deny it is antisemitic, it is instructional to observe the more fanatical among them donning Crusader chainmail uniform on street protests. The report says:

“The wrath of the Crusaders fell as much on Jew as on Moslem; and it soon seemed as much an act of piety to kill Jews in Europe as to kill Saracens in the Holy Land. A wave of persecution, increasingly cruel in its methods spread all over Western Europe. First in England, then in France, Jews were expropriated, tortured, massacred, and finally expelled from the country.”

It also worth understanding that Muslims, like Jews, are Semites. This is usefully pointed out in paragraph 15 when it talks of “the common Semitism of the two peoples” when referring to the harmonious relationship between Jews and Muslims in Moorish controlled Spain. Therefore, the donning of Crusader uniform and imagery by far-right groups exposes their true antisemitic beliefs.

The British attitude towards Jews has not been so rosy in more recent history either, as the Royal Commission on Alien Immigration of 1903 proves. In paragraph 38 (9) the Commission’s report it says it will investigate allegations which include the lack of integration by the Jewish community which results in them “remaining a solid and distinct colony”.

The Commission’s notable members included Lord Rothschild and a Tory MP who was wrapped up with the racist British Brothers League. They were also to investigate the allegation of Jews “existence in large numbers in certain areas gravely interferes with the observance of the Christian Sunday.” Sounds similar to Restore Britain frothing at the mouth about churches converted to mosques.

For a more contemporary view of good quality Jewish life under Muslim rule I recommend the book ‘Three Worlds: Memoirs of an Arab-Jew’ by Avi Shlaim. A quote from page 8, relating to the period prior to 1950-52 when there was an exodus of 120,000 Iraqi Jews to Israel, paints a good picture:

“We in the Jewish community had much more in common, linguistically and culturally, with our Iraqi compatriots than with our European co-religionists. We did not feel any affinity with the Zionist movement, and we experienced no inner impulse to abandon our homeland to go live in Israel.”

Arab and Jewish nationalism following the founding of Israel in 1948 changed everything. The Holocaust and the antisemitism that survivors discovered was still prevalent on their return home within Europe cemented the Zionist movement.

The working class should be cautious of nationalism in all its forms, because it truly serves the interests of our ruling elite. As we see in Israel today, with them embracing Tommy Robinson, nationalism leads to opportunist associations bereft of any moral compass.

Fortunately, many in the British Jewish community are more sensible. The Jewish News reported on October 16, 2025:

“Tommy Robinson has arrived in Israel. And with him, the stench of everything our grandparents fled from.”