Communities join together to fight prejudice across Scotland

Members of Muslim and Jewish communities have joined forces to help tackle anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in Scotland.

The Scottish Council of Jewish Communities (SCoJeC) and the Muslim Council of Scotland (MCS) gathered at a meeting of the Scottish Parliament’s cross-party group on tackling Islamophobia on yesterday evening.

Ahead of the meeting, they issued a joint statement setting out various aims in the fight against racism and prejudice in society.

Scottish Labour MSP Anas Sarwar chairs the cross-party group and said that the battle against the prejudices was a “collective fight”.

He said: “This is a landmark communique, bringing together communities to work together to address Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.

“We can’t leave the fight against anti-Semitism to the Jewish community and we can’t leave the fight against Islamophobia to the Muslim community.

“This is a collective fight for all of us.”

The document notes the two groups “stand together determined to end the hatred and extremism that affects us all”.

It adds: “There have been Islamophobic and anti-Semitic attacks on mosques and synagogues here at home and we should never be blind to the fact that racism, intolerance and prejudice exists in Scotland.”

It sets out several points for action, including resolving to address barriers to reporting incidents to Police Scotland, challenging the spread of hate online and creating a joint Muslim and Jewish women’s network in Scotland.