Another synagogue attacked. Another family grieving. Another headline that forces us to confront what has been gnawing at Britain for two decades: the repeated, deliberate targeting of our people by those who claim religious justification.
We are told, over and over, that the majority are “moderate Muslims.” And perhaps they are. But moderation is not proven by silence. It is not proven by whispered caveats or by clerics waiting until the dust settles before issuing careful statements no one hears.
Moderation is only real when it is visible. When leaders stand shoulder to shoulder with the victims. When condemnation is not hedged, not mumbled, not delayed — but loud, united, and unequivocal. Until that becomes the norm, the word “moderate” rings hollow.
Britain has been patient. We have endured terror after terror. We have listened to excuses, to calls for “understanding,” to political leaders who urge tolerance but fail to demand accountability.
When extremism rose in our own ranks — the EDL, far-right gangs, men spoiling for violence — we disowned them. Loudly. Publicly. Repeatedly. Politicians, communities, even those on the Right said the same thing: “You do not represent us.” The EDL was cast out, and it withered.
Where is that voice in Islam? Where is the movement that stands up after each attack and says, as we said to the EDL, “You do not speak for us, you shame us, and we cast you out”?
We do not hear it. Or if it exists, it is whispered so faintly that the world barely notices. And until it becomes loud, united, and impossible to ignore, the claim of “moderation” rings empty.
We are not the same.
But patience is not infinite. And it should not be.
We have a duty to protect Jewish communities, Christian communities, every community that simply wants to live without fear. We have a duty to call out not just the killers, but the silence that shelters them.
The world cannot keep pretending. Islam, as an ideology, must show it is capable of coexisting at the grown-up table of civilisation. Until its leaders, clerics, and communities prove that by rejecting violence loudly and without hesitation, society has every right to question its place.
Because you can only turn the other cheek so many times.
