Edwin Shuker, Rahima Mahmut, Gillian Merron, Laura Janner-Klausner and Qari Asim. Photo: Board of Deputies of British Jews.

A top UK Jewish group is demanding China end its persecution of the country’s Uyghur Muslim minority.

At a House of Commons event on Thursday, Board of Deputies of British Jews Vice President Edwin Shuker said: “Let us remember — what hurts the victim most is not the cruelty of the oppressor but the silence of the bystander. And it’s our silence that I find inexplicable. In this week when we commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day, we also devote ourselves to coming to the aid of those who are facing oppression and persecution like the Uighurs. We stand with them in their struggle for human rights and we will do whatever we can to help.”

In remarks at the same gathering, Rahima Mahmiut — a representative of the World Uyghur Congress — said, “No oppressor should be able to hide from the public glare.”

Senior Rabbi to Reform Judaism in the UK Laura Janner-Klausner talked about the plight of the Uyghurs, saying, “There are reports of cemeteries flattened, and the systematic and deliberate demonization of an entire people.”

She added, “To all those politicians who have stood on platforms this past week and delivered that so often repeated line ‘never again’ — we ask you ‘to what lengths are you prepared to go to make that statement reality?’”

Imam Qari Asim — a UK government adviser on Islamophobia – noted, “We said ‘never again’ but it did happen again in Bosnia. How can we now protect another minority? We must stand up for justice. God is with those who do good, even in the face of adversity, says the Quran.”

In a statement, the Board of Deputies said it — along with the Rene Cassin human rights organization and the European Union of Jewish Students — would be “calling on the UK government to support us in condemning human rights violations against the Uyghurs and pressing for an urgent change of course by the Chinese authorities.”