Addressing the issue of anti-Islamic prejudice in the UK, a British government minister has said that the growing culture of hostility has led many Muslims to say they feel targeted like “the Jews of Europe.” Labor MP Shahid Malik, Britain’s first Muslim government minister, made the statement in an interview with to be broadcast on Monday on the UK’s Channel 4, to coincide with the third anniversary of the 7/7 bombings in London which killed 52 people. Malik, appointed minister for international development by Prime Minister Gordon Brown last year, said it has somehow become legitimate to target Muslims in a way that would be unacceptable for any other minority. “Somehow there’s a message out there that it is OK to target people as long as it’s Muslims, and you don’t have to worry about the facts, and people will turn a blind eye,” he told the Dispatches program. Malik made clear that he was not equating the position with the Holocaust. “I think most people would agree that if you ask Muslims today what do they feel like, they feel like the Jews of Europe,” he said. “I don’t mean to equate that with the Holocaust, but in the way that it was legitimate almost – and still is in some parts – to target Jews, many Muslims would say that we feel the exact same way.” Jonny Paul reports.
