Op-Ed video: The unjust portrayal of British Muslims in politics
For many years, British Muslims have been portrayed as an "enemy within" who refuse to engage with democracy and cultivate a separatist agenda.
That line of attack has always been false, and last week was decisively proved wrong, says Middle East Eye columnist Peter Oborne.
British Muslims made a massive intervention in the May elections. They abandoned Labour, voting instead for independent parties which support a ceasefire and have condemned Israeli atrocities in Gaza.
By doing so they sent out a message to Keir Starmer that his slavish support for Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may cost his party dozens of seats in the looming general election.
"You might have thought British Muslims deserved praise for their principled engagement in UK politics," said Oborne.
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Instead, newspapers such as the Daily Mail splashed the headline: 'Dozens of pro-Gaza activists elected'.
"The Daily Mail failed to mention in its coverage that over 34,700 Palestinians have, according to Gaza's health ministry, been slaughtered over the last seven months," Oborne said.
"In such terrible circumstances, it's only natural that Muslim voters should rise up against Starmer and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's cross-party coalition in support of Israel's far-right prime minister, Netanyahu.
"In this terrible moment in the history of the Middle East, there’s nothing wrong with being a "pro-Gaza activist," to use the clumsy Daily Mail formulation," he said.
"In fact, the phrase is surely synonymous with support for human decency and principled opposition to the indiscriminate slaughter being carried out by the Israeli army," he added.
The views expressed in this video belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
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