'Incredible Solidarity': UK Muslim Group Slams Anti-Semitism in Full-Page Ad

In a surprise full page ad in a major UK broadsheet, Britain’s Muslim leaders have condemned anti-Semitism.

“We understand that many in our country empathize with the Palestinians and their right to a sovereign state,” said the ad Thursday in the Telegraph and signed by a group called Muslims Against Anti-Semitism.

The ad, signed by leaders of groups including Faith Matters, a Muslim anti-extremism group; the Association of British Muslims, and Tell MAMA, a clearinghouse for complaints about anti-Muslim attacks, also urged vigilance against those who “cynically use international issues to vilify Jews or promote anti-Semitic tropes.”

The ad won a thumbs-up from the Board of Deputies of British Jews, which praised it in a Twitter post.

​The advertisement came just a week after the Board of Deputies joined Tell MAMA in slamming Islamophobia, following a report on anti-Muslim bias in the UK that the Moslem group published on May 8.

​In an almost parallel move, the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism and Faith Matters called on Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, to ban a parade in London planned for Quds Day on June 10 to condemn Israel’s 1967 seizure of eastern Jerusalem, with the participants expected to carry Hezbollah flags, the Evening Standard reported.

​The Jewish and Muslim groups described Quds Day as “a rallying point for anti-Moslem bigots who wish to portray all British Muslims as terrorist sympathizers, and for anti-Semites, who admire Hezbollah’s stated mission to seek out and murder Jews around the world.”

READ MORE: Hamas Slams Bahrain After Jews, Muslims Dance at Hanukkah Menorah-Lighting

International Quds Day is an annual event held on the last Friday of Ramadan that was initiated by Iran in 1979 to express support for the Palestinians and condemn the Israeli occupation of east Jerusalem and the construction of Jewish settlements in Israeli-occupied territories.