Arson, Islamism and the Left

Where we are, where we're headed, and what to do about it.

Mike Freer is the MP for Finchley and Golders Green, a heavily Jewish part of London. I grew up nearby and am currently writing this from my parents’ house in the area. Two days ago, his office was burned down in a suspected arson attack. Here’s what it looks like now:

This isn’t the first time Freer, a vocal Israel supporter, has been targeted. He’s experienced what he describes as ‘13 very threatening incidents’ since first being elected in 2010. These include a molotov cocktail being left on his doorstep, being the focus of an ISIS plot that would ultimately take claim the life of Sir David Amess, and more. He says the motive behind this latest attack is ‘unknown’. Investigators have stated that they believe the fire was started deliberately.

I obviously cannot claim to be sure what has happened in this case (I have my suspicions - namely, his place of work has been attacked because he supports Israel and/or because he represents Jews). I’ll wait for the results of the police investigation. What I will say is that I can remember a time when finding out that an MP’s office half a mile from my street had been set on fire would have been relatively shocking. Not any more. We’ve seen such a widespread pattern of violence and abuse directed towards Jews and people/things associated with Jews/Israel in recent months that this latest incident seems like a predictable, even routine, occurrence.

It’s not exaggerating to say that it’s hard to go on a walk in London and not see posters of Israeli hostages that have been torn down or defaced. The other day I passed two women ripping them up. When I confronted them (check out the video here) they told me ‘this [the existence of hostages] has been debunked’ then accused me of supporting genocide. Large crowds have gathered in British streets chanting for Jihad against the Jews and Israel, some have worn Hamas paraphernalia, praised Hitler and called for the extermination of the Jews, Jewish schools have been vandalised, Jews have been beaten up, menorahs have been destroyed…to choose a tiny selection of examples that have occurred only in London, only in the last 3 months. And that’s not to mention that this all began with the worst act of antisemitic mass murder since the Holocaust. Or the fact that Hamas’ pogrom was immediately followed by marches in London against Israel, at which many participants openly celebrated the killers.

The roots of this state of affairs are to be found in the spread of Islamism and Muslim antisemitism throughout the country, as well as the near-hegemony of ‘liberal’ groupthink in elite circles. These ideological trends feed off of one another, and have fuelled the dramatic uptick in anti-Jewish bigotry. As belief systems, they also share key characteristics (hostility to free thought and expression, a pathological hatred of blasphemers, the justification of acts of terrorist violence as ‘legitimate resistance’, and so on) that are antithetical to the values of liberal-democratic society.

Note the revealing silence that this latest suspected attack - like all other such similar incidents - has been met with in otherwise perma-outraged progressive circles. Hyper-woke types love to call themselves ‘anti-racists’; they whip themselves into fits of hysteria about even the most minor dissent against progressive dogma. But if the MP for a Jewish area gets his office firebombed? Or there’s a 1400% increase in hate crimes against Jews? Or if Jews get attacked in the street and mobs gather outside synagogues? Maybe they’ll mutter something about how it’s very sad, more likely they’ll say nothing or start shouting about Israel.

This is par for the course for the modern left. Hypocrisy and selective outrage lie at the very core of their being. Hence self-appointed ‘women’s rights activists’ are able to claim we must ‘believe all women’ and that tolerant western societies are in the grip of a ‘rape culture’, yet respond to the brutal rape and murder of women by a jihadist death cult by smearing the victims as liars. ‘Anti-racists’ can claim with a straight face that micro-aggressions are proof of racist violence, while participating in large marches at which their fellow attendees celebrate the very recent mass murder of unarmed Jews and Israelis in a genocidal pogrom, then hurl abuse at Jews who object. They bang on endlessly about the far right, yet avoid mention of the significantly more deadly threat to Jews (and everyone else) posed by jihadist terrorism.

In short, these people are the biggest frauds imaginable. They cosplay as warriors against bigotry and oppression, yet when faced with acts of openly genocidal violence, they say they’re understandable, even laudable. They can’t be allowed to dominate the debate any longer, and the rise in Islamist hate needs to be reversed fast.

I will address the issues covered in this piece in greater depth in the coming weeks, as there is a lot more to say. For now if you could please subscribe below, leave a comment and share this article, that would be much appreciated!