Muslim groups condemn London stabbings but challenge government’s attempt to link Palestine solidarity to antisemitic violence

LONDON (MNTV) — Britain’s two largest Muslim representative bodies have condemned the stabbing of two Jewish men in north London on April 29 while sharply criticising the government for using the attack to build a case against protests advocating  and Muslim communities more broadly.

The Muslim Council of Britain, which represents more than 500 affiliated organisations including mosques, schools, and advocacy groups, said it stood in solidarity with the Jewish community facing what it called an abhorrent rise in antisemitism. But in the same statement, it accused the government of promoting narratives that are both inaccurate and counterproductive by framing British Muslims and advocates for Palestinian rights as collectively responsible for rising anti-Jewish hatred.

The Muslim Association of Britain went further, saying the attack was being weaponised to advance an agenda that had been prepared long before the incident — one directed against Muslim communities, Palestinian solidarity, and the right to dissent.

Three victims, one narrative

The attack has been declared a terrorist incident by the Metropolitan Police. The suspect, Essa Suleiman, a 45-year-old British national born in Somalia, was charged with three counts of attempted murder after appearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court. Two of the victims were Jewish men attacked in Golders Green — Shloime Rand, 34, and Moshe Ben Baila, 76, known locally as Moshe Shine.

But the third victim — Ishmail Hussein, a Muslim man and long-time acquaintance of the suspect — has received markedly less attention. Suleiman had been in the care of a psychiatric facility and was staying in supported accommodation in south-east London. 

On the morning of the attack, he attempted to contact Hussein several times by phone before going to his flat in Southwark, where he stabbed him. 

Hussein fended off the assault and sustained minor injuries. Suleiman then travelled to Golders Green, where he carried out the second attack roughly three hours later.

The MCB drew pointed attention to the disparity in coverage, noting that the attack on Hussein — by the same perpetrator, on the same day — attracted far less public and media scrutiny. 

“It speaks to a disparity that raises serious questions,” the council said.

Birmingham MP Ayoub Khan echoed the concern, writing on social media that the suspect faced three attempted murder charges — suggesting the incident was both antisemitic and Islamophobic — and asking why the media was ignoring the Muslim victim. 

Journalist Owen Jones challenged major outlets for reporting the story as involving two victims when court documents made clear there were three, asking what editorial justification existed for omitting the third charge entirely from headlines and initial coverage.

Political context

The attack followed a series of incidents targeting Jewish institutions in London, including arson attacks on Hatzolah ambulances and synagogues in March and April. 

The cumulative impact prompted the government to declare an antisemitism emergency. Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced £25 million for increased police patrols and protection around synagogues, schools, and community centres, and said courts would fast-track sentencing for antisemitic offences.

But Starmer also drew a direct connection between antisemitic violence and pro-Palestine demonstrations — a link that Muslim organisations and civil liberties advocates have forcefully rejected. Jonathan Hall, the government’s former reviewer of terrorism legislation, called for marches for Palestine to be temporarily banned, arguing they had helped “incubate” antisemitism. 

Organisers of the demonstrations have consistently maintained that their target is the Israeli government’s actions, not Jewish people.

The Muslim Association of Britain described the calls for a march ban as a selective assault on civil liberties that targeted Palestine solidarity while far-right groups were allowed to demonstrate freely in central London. 

“When hatred is instrumentalised this way, no community is safe,” the organisation said.

On social media, others pointed to what they saw as inconsistent treatment across communities, noting that hate crimes against other minorities — including a case concluded in April in which a man received a life sentence for raping a Sikh woman because he believed she was Muslim — had not prompted comparable government responses or emergency declarations.

Mental health dimension

The suspect had a documented history of serious mental illness and had been previously admitted to psychiatric facilities.

He had also been referred to the government’s Prevent counter-extremism programme in 2020, though the referral was closed the same year. He reportedly experienced a medical episode during his arrest and was hospitalized before being transferred to custody.

The mental health background has raised questions about whether the incident is best understood through a terrorism framework or as a catastrophic failure of psychiatric care — questions that have largely been overshadowed by the political response.

What Muslim groups are saying

The MCB and MAB statements reflect a position shared by many Muslim organisations: unequivocal condemnation of antisemitic violence alongside a refusal to accept the framing that links such violence to the broader Muslim community or to peaceful advocacy for Palestinian rights. 

The erasure of the Muslim victim from the dominant narrative, they argue, reveals a political selectivity that undermines the credibility of the government’s response and risks deepening divisions between communities that both face rising hatred.

The MCB concluded its statement by calling for an approach grounded in facts rather than political convenience — one that protects all communities from violence without instrumentalising tragedy to curtail the right to protest.