Remembering the 7/7 attacks and the backlash that followed

Arab News

2 days ago

https://arab.news/9whb4
The UK on Monday marked the 20th anniversary of the July 7, 2005, attacks that left 52 people dead (56 including the attackers) and 784 injured.
They were the victims of an attack planned by a group of four young British men who traveled into Central London carrying large backpacks containing homemade bombs. Three of them boarded trains on the London Underground network and detonated their devices, killing and maiming dozens. As the authorities were still trying to establish what had happened, another device was detonated on a bus. The carnage created by these devastating explosions was horrific.
It is right that people remember those killed and injured in these tragic events — they were innocent bystanders who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
But on the day this article was written, nearly 100 people were killed in Gaza. They had nowhere to escape, with their homes mostly razed to the ground over the past two years.
Tens of thousands have died since the war started, but it is unlikely their names will be remembered as well as those killed in London that fateful morning as millions traveled to work.
Tens of thousands have died in the Gaza war, but it is unlikely their names will be remembered as well as those killed in London
Peter Harrison
London is a multicultural city filled with people of every nationality, ethnicity, culture and religion. If the 7/7 attacks were aimed at hurting Britain, they were misguided. If the killers, who claimed they were Muslims, were doing it in the name of their religion, then what about the Muslims they killed?
If it were out of hatred of the British, then what about the people who were born in other parts of the world who were there or who lost loved ones?
And if it were an attack on British society, what about those people impacted who opposed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan or stood firmly opposed to the politics that governed the country, but did so peacefully?
The attackers did claim to be Muslims, but they certainly did not carry out an act of love or peace — the two driving factors of the faith that the vast majority of Muslims follow and practice.
Over the last three decades, the world has been impacted by many acts of violence largely claimed to be in the name of religion, although there have been fewer than many people seem to think. We live in an era of uncertainty and increased fear of perceived threats.
A YouGov poll published ahead of the 7/7 anniversary found that the level of concern about the threat of terrorism in the UK has been growing. 'Where in mid-2023 only 14 percent of Britons felt the threat had increased 'a lot' over the preceding five years, that figure has steadily increased … and has now doubled to 29 percent as of June,' the report explained.
Again, if the 7/7 attackers believed they were killing in the name of their claimed faith, then spare a thought for the Muslims left behind, many of whom have at some point been pressured to denounce every attack or be accused of supporting the killers. The truth is that all the 7/7 attackers and the few others like them have achieved is a marked increase in Islamophobia.
All that the 7/7 attackers and the few others like them have achieved is a marked increase in Islamophobia
Peter Harrison
So, not only do Muslims in the UK have anxieties related to the fear of future terror attacks, but they also have daily concerns about attacks against them because of their faith. Far more people suffer from that than have been attacked by extremists.
The YouGov poll found that 47 percent of Britons consider Islamist extremists to be a 'big threat.' But while the police and intelligence services in the UK now see right-wing extremists as being on a par, only 25 percent of those polled share that view.
Ironically, active threats from Islamist extremists in the UK may be 'high, but stable,' but those from right-wing extremists are 'rapidly increasing.'
Islamophobia is a real problem. In October 2024, the monitoring group Tell Mama reported a spike in anti-Muslim abuse to 4,971 incidents in the year following the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks — the highest total in 14 years. It is also well documented that, in the days that followed 7/7, there was a notable increase in Islamophobia in the UK.
There is a growing trend in British politics, like much of the West, to move further to the right. Political parties of all persuasions have joined in the blame culture, pointing the finger at a supposed influx of migrants. The truth is that, following the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, there was an inevitable increase in the number of migrants arriving in Britain legally or otherwise, but that is expected to fall away in the coming years.
Hatred seems to have become the tool of choice when discussing politics. But surely the best way to beat attacks such as those commemorated this week is to show how united our communities are.
It is right we remember those impacted by attacks such as 7/7 and it is right to be shocked, but it is also important to remember that this does not happen often and, as such, we remember the names of those killed 20 years ago on Monday.
There are thousands of people killed elsewhere whose names we will never know.