LONDON (JTA) – In an unusual intervention, British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said that he is “compelled to speak out” on the plight of China’s Uighur Muslim minority.
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Members of that minority face “forced imprisonment, the separation of children from their parents and a culture of intimidation and fear,” he wrote in an op-ed Tuesday in The Guardian, leaving him “reflecting upon the deep pain of Jewish persecution throughout the ages.”
China cracked down on its Uyghur population in 2017, in what many witnesses said was a militarized action that put many thousands of Uighurs in detention camps, among other restrictions. Chinese officials have disputed this, saying they are targeting extremists.
British chief rabbis rarely speak out on societal matters that do not directly affect their community.
“It is clear that there must be an urgent, independent and unfettered investigation into what is happening,” Mirvis wrote in the op-ed.
Those responsible, he added, “must be held to account and Uighurs able to escape must be given asylum.”
He urged readers to write to their lawmakers, the media and others to take action. He also likened the oppression of Uyghurs to that of Blacks in his native South Africa.
“Talk to your friends about what is happening and encourage them to do the same. Let no person say that the responsibility lies with others,” wrote Mirvis.
Nowadays our generation does not even have the moral sense to be outraged at concentration camps and the destruction of a religious minority.
Heshy your remarki is so stupid it defies any intelligence. The Uighurs are Muslim but NOT terrorists. They are an oppressed minority being killed, tortured and put in camps by Red China by the thousands. Try reading about them. Why do you daven? To pray to HaShem for more misery and death in the world? You must be really demented to have so much hate.
This Rabbi is JINO. Yidden don’t believe in getting involved with internal goyishe conflicts.
China is smart. They are not going to allow Islamic radicals to destroy their society like England France and Germany are doing. Bring Chinese to America and reduce the street crime. We did it in Boro park. It works.