ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on attacks on Jewish and Muslim targets in the West, the response to these attacks and the effects of these attacks and the response to them upon Jews, Muslims, and their mutual relations in London and Amsterdam. In the responses in the public arena to these attacks, three discourses are identified: one of ‘distinction’, one of ‘distancing’, and one of a ‘suspect community’. We see that in the UK and the Netherlands, the leaders of the major Jewish and Muslim umbrella organisations are often united in their condemnation of terrorist attacks. Despite the major differences in the anti-terrorism and anti-extremism policies adopted by the national and local city governments in the UK and the Netherlands, a common factor is that they both contribute to feelings of distrust of the government among Muslims in both cities. The notion of being part of a suspect community can easily lead Muslims to withdraw from wider society and this can be an obstacle not only in dealing with the government but also in entering into relations with other groups, including Jews.
