Shahid Malik, British minister in the Department for International Development:
I think most people would agree that if you ask Muslims today what do they feel like, they feel like the Jews of Europe. I don’t mean to equate that with the Holocaust but in the way that it was legitimate almost – and still is in some parts – to target Jews, many Muslims would say that we feel the exact same way. Somehow there’s a message out there that it’s OK to target people as long as it’s Muslims. And you don’t have to worry about the facts, and people will turn a blind eye.
Hating Islam and Muslims has become legitimate and encouraged. Can we imagine Jews being treated in the same way?