ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the contemporary Jewish and Muslim communities in London and Amsterdam. It concludes with a comparison between these four communities, all of which are very diverse in their make-up, on five salient points: size, public identity, organisation, social position, and transnational ties. It is shown that both the Jewish and Muslim communities in London are significantly larger than their counterparts in Amsterdam and all four communities have placed a greater emphasis upon the importance of displaying a recognisable identity of their own since the 1980s. The comparison shows that the Jewish and Muslim communities in the UK and the Netherlands are all well-organised in widespread networks of groups and institutions active in many areas of society, and that, generally speaking, in both countries Jews occupy stronger social positions than Muslims, and all four communities have strong transnational connections.
