Home Secretary discusses ‘difficult’ task of rebuilding trust between British Jews and Muslims

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood addressed the difficulties of rebuilding trust between Jewish and Muslim communities in the UK following the October 7 Hamas attacks.

In a revealing new interview, Mahmood, herself a religious Muslim, admitted she has been “deeply affected” by hearing accounts of how Jewish children in this country are taught how to respond to possible terror attacks at schools.

She also expressed concern that the “silent majority” of Muslims in this country were being held to account for the actions of the minority of extremists.

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Discussing the challenge of building bridges between communities in an increasingly divided UK, the Home Secretary said:”I think fundamentally, people, on a personal level in this country are pretty good at extending the hand of friendship to one another, but there’s definitely much more suspicion around, and I think in the post-October 7 environment.

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“Certainly interfaith work, and certainly relationships between Muslim and Jewish communities, I know from personal experience, have been involved in a lot of that interfaith work that has really fallen over.

“And I think that the environment for bringing people together is very difficult.”

Despite her belief in the value of inter-faith work, Mahmood told Radio 4 presenter Nick Robinson she had also been suspicious of those who attempt to play down problems around communal tensions – the “let’s just celebrate everybody side of politics,” she says.

In a view that probably differentiates her from the so-called soft-left wing of the Labour Party, Mahmood adds:”My concern about how communities relate to one another has been something that has been a feature of my politics for a long time,” she explains.

“It’s why I’ve always supported and taken part in interfaith work.

“ It’s why, you know, I believe like in my constituency, I feel I’ve been at the sharp end of race relations.

“I represent a place where lots of people who are very different to one another live together.

“It’s why I don’t really like the ‘there’s nothing to see here’ side of politics or the ‘let’s just celebrate everybody’ side of politics.

“Because actually, the messy truth is something in between, and human beings who belong to different groups.

“Yes, I think, as a Muslim, we should all get to know one another, but sometimes we don’t necessarily get along, and so you have to have rules of the game that everybody plays by. Which is why I always plead for tolerance.

“People think tolerance is a bad thing, but I actually think it’s a superpower, because you should be able to tolerate people you disagree with, and still live alongside peacefully and in harmony. And I think that is what we should do.”

The Home Secretary also used the interview on Robinson’s BBC Political Thinking podcast to reveal how she was deeply shocked by stories she heard following  the terror attack at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation in Manchester.

“One of the things that I found most affecting and gutting when I was up in Manchester – there’s a tragedy of what actually happened and the sadness that people had died – but it was the stories of people who talk about their children needing to know how to be safe at school and how to be able to run and hide just in case they’re attacked just for being Jewish,” she said. “I was very deeply affected by all of those stories.”

Mahmood continued:” I think it’s a tragedy that people feel that they cannot express who they are openly for the sake of their own safety”.
The Home Secretary was also asked about her own support for the Palestinian cause and her previous involvement in marches.

She said:”What I would say is that I’m pro-Palestinian myself, as in, I have a long-term track record of being a supporter of the Palestinian cause and believing in a two-state solution, a safe and secure Israel alongside a state of Palestine as well.”

Asked about the threats and intimidation she faced at the last election in her Birmingham Ladywood seat, where she was challenged by hard-line Islamist candidate Akhmed Yakoob, she said:”I’ve been branded many things, an ‘infidel’ amongst them on a number of occasions.

“What I would say is it’s still not right or fair to malign an entire community as if they are all extremists or intolerant. I think there are particular issues in politics, and Gaza, I think has played out in its own difficult way, particularly for the Labour Party.

“But there were just as many people in my own community who were also assisting me and supporting me through that difficult time.

“Many people who still disagree with me politically, who would say it’s crossing a line to start calling somebody else an infidel. So it’s a much more nuanced and complex picture.”
The 45-year-old politician also confirmed she was assessing whether changes needed to be made around the laws on protests in this country, following numerous complaints about the impact of pro-Gaza demos.

“There is, there is nothing wrong with people wanting to go out and protest… It’s an important part of our democracy,” she said.

“ But I think it is right that we ask ourselves a question about the pressure that can also be felt if you think you’re on the receiving end of that protest.

“We place conditions on protests to make sure that we can balance the needs of different communities, as well as respect the right and the freedom to protest.

“I think that maybe the way in which we apply those conditions is out of sync with the pressure that is being felt.”

Mahmood has announced a review led by Lord MacDonald “to check both that the law and the legal thresholds are in the right place, and that they are consistently applied.”

She said she regularly hears complaints from communities being targeted by protests that policing is inconsistent, depending on which force is involved.

“I think greater consistency would give communities much more confidence in the law of the land being applied,” she said.

Mahmood said she had noted that the idea of her becoming Home Secretary “ has made many people have a conniption or two.”

She said this was the result of “this idea that it’s not possible to be a faithful, devout Muslim …because people have a vision of faithful, devout Muslims as some terrorist or someone that wants to blow everybody else up. “

She continued:”They don’t have the vision of a faithful, devout Muslim that is my lived experience of many of my Muslims, my fellow Muslims in this country, millions of Muslims in this country, who go about their lives peacefully and who, in fact, see faith as something that calls them to public service, to try to live a good life, a peaceful life, and who mostly just want to go about their business in peace and harmony with their citizens. That’s the majority experience.”

She said that regrettfully, the actions and behaviour of a minority have “somehow overpowered the narrative about the rest of us”.

Returning to her own values as a religious Muslim, she said she had switched from legal work as a barrister to politics because of a commitment to public service as a result of her faith.

She also spoke of her love of this country, and of how, as a British Muslim, she wanted to try to make a difference “when I can see that there is an issue that is tearing my country apart, that is setting people against one another.”