POLITICS: Britain must wake up to the reality of Islamist terror in its midst

The vile attack on a Manchester synagogue on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar should be a blaring wake-up call to the United Kingdom that Islamist extremism is out of hand.

Antizionists screaming “Globalize the Intifada!” have spent the last two years insisting that their fervid calls for the elimination of Israel have nothing to do with antisemitism — indeed, that it’s offensive to suggest otherwise.

Their protests, you see, are motivated solely by humanitarian concerns.

But if any bright line ever divided principled opposition to the war in Gaza from outright hatred of Jews, the “Free Free Palestine” crowd is doing a good job of erasing it.

Within hours of Jihad al-Shamie’s (yes, that’s really the alleged terrorist’s name) murderous assault, violent protests broke out across Britain.

Apologists for Islamist terror jumped in to explain that these riots were just a response to the “genocide” in Gaza, or the interdiction of the latest “aid” flotilla.

But how does that explain the chants in London of “Khaybar, Khaybar ya yahud! Jaysh Muhammad soufa ya’oud!” (Khaybar, Khaybar, look out Jews! Muhammad’s army’s coming soon!”)

This ditty recalls the Battle of Khaybar in 628, when Muhammad conquered a Jewish tribe, and became popular as a Hamas battle song during the First Intifada.

Indeed, it’s obvious that to the tens of thousands of Islamists on the UK terror watchlist — and to many Hamas supporters around the world — Jews worshipping in English synagogues might as well be serving in the Israeli army.

That’s what they mean by “Globalize the Intifada.”

They want to bring the fight against Zionism and “settler colonialism” to the streets of the West.

But the supine UK police spend their time investigating schoolgirls and retirees for “public order” offenses based on social-media posts that anonymous tipsters claim “disturbed” them.

This is the same country that bent so far backward to avoid any whiff of “racism” that its police for years covered up and enabled the mass rape of young English girls by gangs of South Asian “groomers.”

And the current Labour government has been pouring fuel on the fire, with its incessant smearing of Israel’s war effort; we were glad to see one of the worst offenders, Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, met by outraged booing as he spoke at a service for Manchester victims.

More of that, please: The British have a serious problem on their hands.

And if they don’t deal with it soon, the Manchester Yom Kippur attack will prove to be only a prelude.