Tommy Robinson is right about radical Islam: Joseph Cohen
Tommy Robinson “saw the reality that optimists like me were unable to differentiate,” Joseph Cohen, founder of the Israel Advocacy Movement, told Avi Yemini on the latest edition of The Yemini Report.
Having moved to Israel from the United Kingdom, Joseph Cohen, founder of the Israel Advocacy Movement, describes himself as a “Jewish refugee from the West.”
The U.K. is no longer safe for Jews — particularly those with a public profile, Cohen says, after receiving daily death threats and facing physical altercations, not to mention being doxxed.
These dangers are what led him to Israel — a path he believes many Jews in the West will unfortunately follow — and what steered him from being an advocate for interfaith dialogue to becoming a critic of radical Islam.
Now, years after debating with Tommy Robinson and Avi Yemini at Speakers' Corner in London, Cohen confesses Tommy Robinson was right to raise the alarm about the danger of radical Islam.
“You saw the reality that optimists like me were unable to differentiate,” Cohen told Yemini on the latest edition of The Yemini Report.
“I fell into the trap that most liberals fell into,” he continued. “I would cluster all Muslims together and say we can make peace with all of them, they're all the same.”
Tommy, meanwhile, Cohen said, fell into the trap on the other side, believing there could be no peace with any Muslim, delivering his message in less refined language — an issue that led British Jews to have a negative view of the independent journalist and activist.
Older and wiser, Robinson has gained more nuance. But the Jewish community still largely doesn't support Robinson.
“I think the Jewish community falls into the trap of viewing him by things he said 20 years ago rather than what he's saying today,” Cohen explained.
Robinson's point of view is that “you can be a good Muslim ... it just means you're not practicing what it's telling you or what it says in the scripture,” said Yemini.
“There is clearly a progressive heart of the Muslim community that is willing to ignore the hateful parts towards (Jews) and want to build bridges and want to focus on the good parts in the Quran that talk about the people of the book, not the ones telling them to kill (Jews),” he added.
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COMMENTS
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Bruce Atchison commented 2025-06-12 19:25:50 -0400Is there such a thing as a moderate Muslim? If so, why do they become radicalized?
