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Louis Dor
Jan 29, 2016
James O'Brien was moved by a letter from a man of Jewish ancestry on Holocaust Memorial Day, which called for greater focus on the experience of Muslims in the UK.
The listener, Josh, emailed the LBC presenter earlier this week to deliver the following message, in the wake of a sharp rise in Islamophobic attacks in recent months:
I just wanted to say that although I am not a religious man I have a strong Jewish heritage. Today being the 71st anniversary of the Holocaust, which is very personal to me for obvious reasons, I think we really need to make the link as to how Muslims are being subjected daily to such lazy prejudices, just as my ancestors were, all those years ago.
Josh argued that "Jews, more than anyone, need to stand up for the Muslim community", by positioning themselves against the "vile rubbish" in the press and leaving the "Middle East nonsense to one side for the moment".
We need to remember that not long ago it was us who were on the receiving end of this treatment, and we all know where that ended up.
He detailed how his family had emigrated from Russia during the pogroms in the early 19th century and how, during their time living in East London, they frequently saw signs reading “No dogs, No Irish, No Jews”.
It feels like we’re receding into a society that is also happy to say 'No Muslims'. Just look at what is happening in the states with that lunatic Donald Trump. We simply cannot tolerate this.
That’s all I wanted to say. Keep the peace.
A notably moved O'Brien responded to the message by saying:
On today of all days I am happy to provide you with an opportunity to bring that message to a slightly wider audience, in the probably naive hope that some people might listen.
Watch the full video, below:
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