‘We can’t live behind walls’: Muslim-Jewish networks will not give up after Golders Green attack

Laura Marks (right), co-founder of Nisa-Nashim, a Jewish-Muslim women’s network, and Zaza Elsheik, its chair. Photograph: Nisa-Nashim

‘I feel punch drunk,” says Laura Marks, the co-founder of Nisa-Nashim, a Jewish-Muslim women’s network, referring to the alleged attempted murder of two Jewish men in north London this week: “Every day it feels like there is something else. It’s relentless.”

Nisa-Nashim was set up as a charity eight years ago to bring Jewish and Muslim women together through social events. The idea was to nurture relationships in UK communities that could help overcome the distrust, division and religious stereotyping exacerbated by Israel-Palestine tensions in the Middle East.