(JTA) — British Prime Minister David Cameron laid out a five-year plan to combat Islamic extremism, including curbing anti-Semitism.
“You don’t have to support violence to subscribe to certain intolerant ideas which create a climate in which extremists can flourish,” Cameron said in a major policy speech Monday in Birmingham.
“Ideas also based on the conspiracy that Jews exercise malevolent power or that Western powers, in concert with Israel, are deliberately humiliating Muslims because they aim to destroy Islam.”
Cameron said that people must challenge the view that people become radicalized because of historic injustices, recent wars, poverty or hardship. He also pledged to tackle extremist ideology and “the failures of integration,” which he said has led young British citizens to attempt to fight with the Islamic State.
He also said he would enact a new law that would give parents the power to cancel their children’s passports if they fear they are planning to travel to Iraq and Syria to join the Islamic State.
The president of the Conference of European Rabbis, Pinchas Goldschmidt of Moscow, said he welcomed Cameron’s comments.
“Across Europe we are all feeling vulnerable, and it is vital that leaders across Europe stand up to protect us all,” Goldschmidt said in a statement. “But political will is not enough; we as religious communities must take the lead. Only we know what is going on in our communities, and we must work with politicians in this fight. It is our role to educate our communities about the peaceful aspects of our religions and ensure they know the dangers of extremism.”
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