Fifty Jewish women write to candidates urging action on anti-Muslim hate

Community's leading female voices urge local election hopefuls to take on hate and stand up for constituents of the Islamic faith

Fifty of the Jewish community’s leading women have written to local election candidates urging them to tackle hate against their Muslim constituents.

A letter signed by the Jewish women has been made public on the eve of this weekend’s upcoming Nisa/Nashim Jewish and Muslim women’s conference, which has the backing of Prime Minister Theresa May.

More needs to be done to protect Muslim women from abuse and attack, the Jewish women say. They reached their conclusion after reading a report from TellMAMA that the greatest impact of anti-Muslim hatred is felt by women who are visibly Muslim – noting that the majority of victims of in-person or street-based incidents were female.

The signatories, who include Gillian Merron, chief executive of the Board of Deputies, Baroness Altmann, Olivia Marks-Woldman of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, and Nisa/Nashim’s co-founder Laura Marks, say: “Every day, spaces like trains, buses or the streets often feel unsafe for Muslim women, and they are too often worried that they, and their children, will face verbal abuse or even physical violence.

“As Jewish women, standing shoulder to shoulder with our Muslim cousins and as mothers, sisters, and crucially as friends, we call upon every candidate in the local elections in May, to commit to addressing violence against Muslim women, or Gendered Islamophobia.”