Our flags should not be used to threaten others

FLAG WARS harm both Jews and Muslims. “That flag is seen as a call to arms and seen as a message of support of antisemitism, for being anti-Jewish and it was never meant to be like that.” What is it about the Palestinian flag which caused the headteacher of Allerton Grange School in Leeds to make, and then apologise for, this statement? Why is the use of flags and symbols seen as making others “feel threatened and unsafe”?

Research shows that most British Jews, including the Board of Deputies, favour a two-state solution, an independent sovereign Israel alongside an independent sovereign Palestine. So most British Jews favour a Palestinian state, which means acknowledging Palestinians’ right to embrace their flag as a concrete symbol of nationhood, just as most Israelis embrace the Israeli flag.

What then has gone wrong? Since the outbreak of violence in Gaza and Israel three weeks ago, there’s been a reported increase in the UK of Islamophobic incidents of 430 per cent and an increase in antisemitic incidents of 500 per cent. What is happening in Gaza, is, unfortunately, not staying in Gaza, and what’s happening in Jerusalem is not staying in Jerusalem.

A terrible direct result is that British Muslims and Jews are receiving racist backlash for the actions of overseas bodies. We are in a proxy war here for what’s happening over there. Already, delicate relations between our communities are being frayed.

As an Imam and a Rabbi, we believe in robust, difficult and uncomfortable conversations. We believe that ultimately people are good, want to improve the situation, and certainly not cause more harm. How can we unlock those spaces for discussion and be able to ask questions in good faith without ricochets of verbal shrapnel flying at us, or even worse, the disgusting physical attacks that have happened?

We must find many different ways for Jews and Muslims, and anyone who wants to talk about Israel-Palestine, to avoid importing the battle lines from Gaza to Greenwich, from Bethlehem to Birmingham and from the Temple Mount to Totteridge.

Flag-waving alone has started to be used as an inflammatory weapon. Let us wave our flags proudly in tandem with our words. Flags should be symbols of freedom and not misused as symbols of protest or subjugation. Let us give powerful accounts of our self-expression in patient dialogue, and further mutual understanding with our British neighbours. People on either side who wave flags to intimidate do not do themselves, and certainly not Britain as a whole, any favours. Both Israeli and Palestinian flags bring the message of liberation, of freedom and of statehood. The Israeli flag is based on a tallit, with its message of commitment to every single mitzvah; the Palestinian flag is based on the message of liberation. Both flags can be waved together. Let’s move from incendiary flag-waving to real conversations.

Together, we will be running workshops on having genuinely productive dialogue, even and especially during times of crisis. Contact us on Twitter @QariAsim @LauraJanklaus.

Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner is a leadership trainer and broadcaster. Imam Qari Asim is chair of the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board

What is happening in Gaza is sadly not staying in Gaza’