Why Yasmine Mohammed Is Speaking out Against Islam (Part II)

“Actually, the two things that ex-Muslims let go of—the very last two things that they let go of—are eating pork and anti-Semitism. It’s because both of these things are so ingrained in us from such a young age.”

This is the second part of the conversation between Merion West’s Erich Prince and Yasmine Mohammed. Part one was published on November 23rd.

Yasmine, I next want to ask you about anti-Semitism, and you describe how prevalent it is in many Muslim-majority countries. You say that it’s almost so pervasive that you can barely even see that it’s there. Anti-Semitism, of course, has been in the news a lot, with Rep. Ilhan Omar’s comments, for example. it possible that certain anti-Semitic tropes are almost second-nature, or a type of near-unconscious conditioning? You mentioned, for example, that one of the worst words you can call someone is the word for a Jew, and you describe anti-Semitism all but interwoven into the culture in many of these countries.

It’s a very mild case, but I was speaking to a friend of mine from California, and she said, “You know Yasmine, when I was growing up, we used to hear the term all the time to ‘Jew someone down.’” And she said, “I never thought about what the term meant. I never thought it was anti-Semitic. I just never thought about it. And then one day I said to a friend of mine, ‘Oh, it was such a great deal. And we were able to Jew them down.’” And she stopped, and she said, “Do you realize I’m Jewish?” And then my friend was like, “Okay, but why is that relevant to this conversation?” So she really didn’t understand it. It wasn’t until her friend explained it to her, and then it was this light bulb moment.