Dialogue between those who have different beliefs is a good thing on the whole, but it has to be done intelligently, and selectively, so that groups that do have liberal or progressive religious beliefs do not inadvertently give succour to ideologies that are neither liberal nor progressive. In brief, people of liberal religious belief, whether that be Jewish, Christian, Muslim or Hindu really should be talking primarily to other liberals. What should not happen is those of liberal religious belief sitting down and making nice with those who, if they had the power, would happily wipe out those same liberals. There is nothing whatsoever to be gained by talking to violent and extremist religious nutters and pretending that they are not, in fact, violent extremist religious nutters. Although peace can only come about by talking to those we disagree with, there has to be some lines in the sand that are not crossed, some people with whom we do not engage in dialogue. Unless you have agreed and consistent moral standards, then you are nothing more than an impotent moral relativist, with all that implies.
Liberal Judaism is one of the smallest of the Jewish communal movements in the United Kingdom,and in recent years it has become the most left-wing of the lot. Of late, there has been a rumbling of discontent from some Liberal Jews about their movement’s association with the left wing and Alinskyite (see note below) organisation Citizens UK, much of which centres around some of the groups with which Citizens UK chooses to associate. Another criticism of the organisation is based on the information that the Chair of Citizens UK, Neil Jameson, has been observed to run political cover for Islamic extremists, when these extremists have been caught out being, well, extreme.
There is no doubt that the Citizens UK organisation is very much a leftist organisation, its declaration about being in favour of ‘social justice’ is a cover for policies and aims that are socialist, unfriendly to individual conscience and free enterprise, along with being very hostile to the concepts of freedom of speech and thought. Although Citizens UK presents itself to the outside world as a happy clappy community organisation, it often acts like, and has policies akin to, the Socialist Workers Party, although one where the activists can often be found wearing a clerical collar or a Tallis.
Let’s just look at some of the organisations that make up Citizens UK. Some are OK entities with a long history of being involved in ministering to the poor, such as the Salvation Army, or the predominantly Black-orientated Pentecostal churches, but there are others who are distinctly murky.
Take the Muslim Council of Britain as an example of the sort of extremists that are involved with Citizens UK. This is an organisation that can truly be said to speak with a forked tongue. It is deeply involved with the promotion of the idea of Islamic victimhood and often portrays Muslims as victims of a heartless ‘Islamophobic’ world. To anyone who observes Muslim culture and the Islamic world, this can be seen for the complete lie that it is. In so many places in the world, it is Muslims who are oppressing non-Muslims, not the other way round. The second lie that the MCB promote is the idea of Islam as a ‘religion of peace’; a quick look at the situation in Syria, Iraq, Egypt or Pakistan will soon show anybody the dishonesty of such a statement. The MCB also, for nearly a decade, boycotted public commemorations of Holocaust Memorial Day because they wanted it extended to what they saw as Muslim victims of everyone else. The MCB also has very close links with the Labour Party and its members were heavily involved in the ‘Trojan Horse’ scandal that afflicted Birmingham schools. One of the MCB’s senior members, Daud Abdullah, had also signed the 2009 Istanbul Declaration, which called for action against those who support the existence of the State of Israel. The MCB also campaigned against laws that prohibited the glorification of Islamic terrorism. The MCB is an organisation that, by no stretch of the imagination, can be referred to as ‘liberal’.
For Jews to sit down with the MCB, even at one remove, is no different from sitting down with neo-Nazis and referring to them as ‘friends’. It is something that should not be done. Unfortunately those who should know better than to break bread with the promoters of genocide against the Jewish citizens of Israel, are doing exactly that, among them Rabbi Danny Rich, Chief Executive of Liberal Judaism. Citizens UK and by extension Liberal Judaism, seem to think that the MCB are suitable people to have as friends. Personally, I’d rather invite a piss-soaked tramp into my home than have anything to do with the MCB.
Here is a public statement from Liberal Judaism from 2013, made prior to Interfaith Week
The statement said:
“Rabbi Danny Rich, Chief Executive of Liberal Judaism,will join Britain’s faith, education and third sector leaders at a civil society summit hosted by Citizens UK. The Planning Ahead for a Generation summit takes place on Wednesday 19th June at Queen Mary, University of London.
At the event, civil society leaders will discuss how their respective national networks can work together to address shared concerns, building towards a coordinated effort to influence the next General Election. They will also plan a new wave of social action for the next decade and beyond, using Community Organising – a process where communities are empowered to make positive change through working with others for the common good.
Rabbi Danny Rich will attend alongside leaders from Masorti Judaism and Reform Judaism, who together will help launch an ambitious strategy to influence the future of democracy and strengthen communities through Community Organising. The 3 movements are currently working together on a range of social action initiatives, including the joint employment of a Citizens UK Community Organiser working with Jewish communities and in the London Borough of Barnet. Citizens UK is Europe’s largest diverse and independent civic alliance, bringing together faith communities, schools and charities for social justice.
The summit builds on Liberal Judaism’s history of interfaith collaboration and pioneering social action. Working with Citizens UK, Liberal Judaism congregations have played a leading role in the Living Wage campaign, as well as working to tackle crime and isolation.
A diverse range of faith communities will be represented at the summit, including Anglican, Catholic, Methodist, Salvation Army, Baptist, Pentecostal and independent churches, as well as the Muslim Council of Britain, schools, universities and charities.
Rabbi Danny Rich, Chief Executive of Liberal Judaism said:
“Our partnership with Citizens UK is an expression of Liberal Judaism’s prophetic mission and commitment to social action. We are already using Community Organising to strengthen our congregations and campaign on a range of issues. This summit is a great opportunity to meet with leaders from other faiths and enhance the work do together to build a fairer society.”
Neil Jameson, Executive Director of Citizens UK said:
“This summit brings together some of the most significant national leaders from faith, education and civic institutions to strengthen civil society and our democracy for generations to come. We are delighted to support Liberal Judaism in working alongside other faiths for social justice.”
Someone should really inform Rabbi Rich that the MCB are not good people, they are sectarian, anti-Israel, have extremist connections and are unfit to be included in any gathering of respectable society.
The second example of a dodgy entity who is made to feel quite at home in Citizens UK is the East London Mosque in London’s Whitechapel. This extremist aligned mosque has been at the centre of controversy for many years. It often puts on extremist speakers who have called for jihad against Israel and the killing or oppression of Jews, Christians and gay people. When caught out, the mosque promises faithfully that they will no longer book extremist speakers, a promise that is often broken. On some of the occasions they have been caught out, they get Neil Jameson, the Chief Executive of Citizens UK to speak on their behalf and tell angry non-Muslims that the East London mosque are really a bunch of claw-less and toothless pussy-cats, again something that is very far from the truth. Here’s the Left of centre Harry’s Place blog, voicing their concerns about the actions of Neil Jameson.
Harry’s Place said:
“Neil Jameson is the founder of London Citizens, a “community alliance” of religious and social groups.
Junaid Ahmed is a deputy chair and a trustee of London Citizens, which lists him as a representative of the East London Mosque. He is also an activist and trustee for the Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE). It is the Islamist group based in the mosque’s London Muslim Centre.
Junaid Ahmed is an ardent supporter of Hamas, as revealed last week. Here he hails Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader in Gaza, as “our leader” at a meeting in London in 2009. He went on to salute other Hamas leaders and fighters too as examples for Muslims to follow.
Neil Jameson distributed London Citizens’ response to the revelations. This line captures the denial at work in the face of video evidence:
Our Lead Organiser, Development Director, several colleagues and a Trustee have studied Mr Ahmed’s Speech at some length.
They take the clear view that he neither promotes or condones terrorism, nor expresses support for any proscribed organization in what he said in that Speech.
What Neil Jameson wants is the “common good”. Helping extremists with denial rhetoric is not the way to achieve it. Yet this is what he has done, repeatedly.
Click the link below for more from Harry’s Place about Neil Jameson and the East London Mosque.
http://hurryupharry.org/2011/05/31/neil-jameson-the-east-london-mosque-and-the-ife/
For years the East London Mosque has been promising that they will not book or promote extremist speakers, but they have recently been caught out yet again, this time promoting a supporter of Osama Bin Laden.
The Stand For Peace blog said:
“Last Friday (10 October 2014), the East London Mosque hosted Imam Abdullah Hasan, who gave a talk entitled, “Beginning of the End: Minor and Major Signs of the Day of Judgement.”
The East London Mosque consistently denies that it provides a platform to extremists and hate preachers, but Abdullah Hasan’s presence evidently belies that claim.
Few personalities on the British Islamist scene are more extreme than Hasan, with the possible exception of Haitham al-Haddad (of whom, incidentally, Hasan is an outspoken supporter).
Hasan is an activist of the Islamic Forum of Europe, a branch of the genocidal Islamist movement Jamaat-e-Islami.
Of Aafia Siddiqui, the convicted terrorist described by FBI Director Robert Mueller as an “al-Qaeda operative and facilitator,” Hasan has said, “Our sister Aafia Siddiqui … [is] not a terrorist … She was a Muslim trying to practise Islam.”
For Hasan, the only crime committed by terrorists incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay is “nothing but [that] they believe in Allah.” They are “our brothers and sisters,” he says.
On his Facebook page, Hasan describes Jews as devil-worshippers who wish to exterminate Muslims; he claims that “the Jews … will be amongst the followers of the dajjal [antichrist]. In the city of Isfahan their [sic] will be 70,000 Jews who will be his followers.”
Read the rest of this piece here:
http://standforpeace.org.uk/bin-laden-supporter-anti-gay-preacher-speaks-at-east-london-mosque/
Hasan also has made statements attacking LGB people and has referred to Osama Bin Laden as a ‘symbol of resistance to Western Imperialism’.
The Citizens UK organisation itself does not exactly have a clean pair of hands. They are gearing up to heavily promote their left-wing agenda in the run up to the 2015 General Election. Specifically, they are promoting the idea of resettling refugees from the Syrian conflict in the United Kingdom, including in the rapidly Islamifying London Borough of Redbridge, which is now under the rule of an increasingly Islamopandering local Labour administration. Now I’m all in favour of helping Syrian Christians, Kurds, Druze and Alawites, which includes giving them temporary shelter in the United Kingdom, but there is a danger that by bringing in lots of Muslim Syrians, we could also be importing yet more Jihadists, hiding among these Muslim refugees. We have enough Muslim problems in Britain already, without importing any more.
Here is a highly self-congratulatory article from the website of the Redbridge branch of Citizens UK, appealing for Syrian refugees to be resettled in the UK. Although Citizens UK are saying that only 50 Syrian refugees are planned to be resettled in Redbridge, nobody with any sense believes that it would stay at that number.
Redbridge Citizens said:
“On Wednesday 8th October, at the start of the Jewish Festival of Succot at Bet Tikvah Synagogue in Ilford, senior faith leaders Rabbi Danny Rich, Chief Executive of Liberal Judaism, Imam Mohamed Fahim(*) (South Woodford Mosque), Father Brian McGrath (Saint Thomas of Canterbury), Rabbi David Hulbert (Bet Tikvah Synagogue, Ilford) and Iris Radulin, a refugee leader from Albanian community organization Shpresa (‘Hope’ in English), joined members of national community organising charity, Citizens UK, to call upon the Leader of Redbridge Council, Jas Athwal, to resettle a small number of vulnerable refugees living in UN camps near war-zones such as Syria and Iraq. Currently the UK has resettled fewer than 20 refugee families from Syria since the start of the crisis.
This action is part of a Citizens UK campaign held during Succot, during which time diverse leaders of faith and no faith will be standing in traditional Succot temporary shelters to remember the refugee experience of their ancestors as a means of highlighting the plight that refugees face today. The Succot events will all include a request to local authorities to help double the number of refugees that the UK currently admits.
The campaign hopes to persuade 15 local authorities to offer sanctuary to 50 people annually, which would increase the number of refugees resettled in the UK from just 750 to 1,500. Local authorities that agree will receive financial support from a UN refugee resettlement scheme funded by the UK government and the EU.”
Read the original source here:
*Redbridge Residents will be familiar with Imam Mohamed Fahim as he is one of those behind the monstrous mosque carbuncle that has been the subject of much local protest in South Woodford. See here:
https://www.fahrenheit211.net/2014/07/02/good-news-from-south-woodford-mosque-plan-rejected-again/
and here
https://www.fahrenheit211.net/2014/08/21/bullst-supreme-from-an-imam-in-south-woodford-essex/
I believe it is a moral necessity to help those in need, but that cannot be achieved by merely bringing more people to this increasingly crowded island. If the likes of Citizens UK really want to help the ordinary person in Syria or Iraq, then they should be campaigning for a massive shipment of arms to those fighting Islamic extremists in those countries. Arming the Kurds with modern weapons and supplying training for those weapons would be a whole lot more effective in the long term than the ideas proposed by Redbridge Citizens. Of course Succot is a time to think of those without a home, but there are better ways to help than the means suggested by Citizens UK.
The senior management of Liberal Judaism has managed to get the organisation deeply, too deeply in my opinion, involved with Citizens UK. The link with Citizens UK has been sold to the average Liberal Judaism member as a form of Tikkun Olam, or repairing the hurts of the world, but any student of history will tell you that the sort of socialist policies that Citizens UK promote do not repair, they only destroy. Citizens UK is a far leftist, Jihadist-friendly, economically illiterate entity, it is hoodwinking not just Jews but Christians and members of other faiths who are often just looking for a social action project that fits in with the universal and cross-religious commandment to do good works. I know from correspondence that readers of this blog have had with me, that the close association Liberal Judaism has with Citizens UK is causing both alarm and concern.
So if your Rabbi, Vicar, Priest or other religious leader starts prattling on about this wonderful new social action project they’ve come across, then ask them ‘who’s behind it?’ If it is Citizens UK, then show them this article and explain to them just why Citizens UK is such a political hot potato.
There are many people out there who are worried about the political influence of undemocratic Leftist groups, there has been a lot of discussion about the ideology, aims and methods of what Quentin Letts of the Daily Mail described as a ‘nexus of left wing schmoozery‘ The actions of Citizens UK and those who support them for fair reasons or foul, should be the subject of much more public debate than they are at present.
Making bad choices in friends and allies, as Liberal Judaism appears to have done by naively sticking by Citizens UK no matter what, does nobody any favours, least of all Liberal Jews. It is dangerous for Jews to be associated in the public’s mind with those such as the East London Mosque and the Muslim Council of Britain, who are at heart enemies of the United Kingdom and all its people, no matter what their personal religious beliefs. I would urge all Liberal Jews, in fact all Jews in general who are reading this and whose synagogues may be thinking of getting involved with Citizens UK, to speak to your Rabbonim about Citizens UK and do your utmost to get LJ and other Jewish organisations to sever links with this pernicious and dangerous Left wing organisation.
Liberal Judaism is an organisation that deserves immense respect because it is harder, in my view, to examine in detail all 613 commandments of Judaism and interpret them for the modern world, and in light of later knowledge, than it is to follow these Mitzvot (Commandments) without question. For Liberal Judaism to continue down the path of moral relativism and not calling evils by their names or standing up to evil is a terrible tragedy. It is an insult to the heritage bequeathed to them, not only by thousands of years of Jewish history, but also an insult to the great thinkers of Liberal Judaism who contributed so much to religious life and theological debate and who are now sadly no longer with us. It is a dereliction of the social conscience that they used to improve the world, both for Liberal Jews and for society as a whole. As we remember those who live in flimsy homes this Succot, we should ask for better from our religious leaders.
Note on Alinsky and Alinkyism
It has been said by some that the very essence of Alinskyism is an amoral approach to politics as has been excellently articulated in this article in New English Review on how Alinsky’s methods and ideologies have contributed to a moral decline in American politics.
Thanks, have had a suspicion about them … what a poor choice of friends. Will keep ‘enlightening’ some. No problem with bringing Syrian Christians to Redbridge – don’t we need them! From the frying pan into a fire…
I agree that if any group deserves our help it is the Syrian Christians. Citizens UK is indeed a really poor choice of friends for Liberal Judaism and other religious groups for that matter. What is bothering some of my correspondents is they are individually bringing their concerns about Citizens UK to their local Rabbi’s, and those higher up the managerial scale,and are being brushed off either by being called ‘reactionaries’ or they are stonewalled by having their complaints ignored. As I said in my article it is a moral imperative to help those who deserve and require help, but getting involved with Citizens UK is a pretty poor way to do it.
Liberal Jews are the mirror image of what the biens pensants have decided are “good” Moslems. In other words “good” Jews of the Liberal Jewish persuasion are not – in a religious sense – Jews at all or rather, again in a religious sense, are very “bad” Jews. In the same way those mythical 21st Century, tolerant, kuffar loving, ecumenical “good” Moslems are, in fact, very bad Moslems indeed. David Greenfield in his Sultan Knish blog has described this phenomenon of liberals defining who or who isn’t a “good” Moslem in this excellent piece
I agree it is not for Western Liberals of any faith to decide who is or is not a ‘good Muslim’. What Islam regards as a ‘good Muslim’ is too often a definition of a person who is completely incapable of living in societies where religion is a private matter and where it is expected that a person should live in peace with those of different faiths. Unfortunately there are Liberal and Reform Jews who seem to be more enamored by the words of Karl Marx than the words of Moses the Lawgiver. Of course I believe that religion should evolve in the light of greater religious and secular knowledge, it is this slow evolution and looking forward whilst looking back, even in the face of murderous oppression that in my opinion is a major factor in the survival of Judaism itself. However it is folly to become so open minded that your brains fall out and playing nice with those who ultimately wish to kill you, is not a sensible option.