Manchester’s Synagogue Terror
The attack was a culmination of years of rising antisemitism and ignored warnings
Yom Kippur is the most solemn and holiest of Jewish holidays. Meaning day of atonement, it is a time for Jews to reflect on the past year and ask God’s forgiveness for any sins.
Instead of work or school, many Jews fast and attend the synagogue where they pray throughout the day.
But this sacred day was desecrated by extreme violence when a car and stabbing attack left two people dead and three others injured outside a synagogue in north Manchester.
As worshippers gathered for prayers on Thursday at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation, in Crumpsall, a car was reportedly driven into pedestrians before a man fled the vehicle and launched a stabbing spree.
A major incident was declared by Greater Manchester Police at 9.37am and armed officers arrived on the scene within minutes.
Footage on social media showed officers pointing guns at someone lying on the ground, while their colleague screamed “he’s got a bomb” to onlookers and told them to “get back”.
The suspect, 35-year-old Jihad al-Shamie - a British man of Syrian origin - was shot dead. An ITV report suggested that he taught English and computer programming.
After the attack, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said that “additional police assets” would be deployed to synagogues across the UK, adding his government would “do everything to keep our Jewish community safe”.
Observant Jews who don’t use their phones on Yom Kippur will have switched them back on in the evening, only to be confronted with such horrific news. The violence has sent shockwaves through synagogues across the UK and left the community grieving.
No one should feel afraid to practise their faith or gather in worship. That should go without saying.
But for a lot of Jews in Britain, it was only a matter of when not if something like this was going to happen. Since the October 7 terrorist attack, British Jews report feeling less safe than before. Research conducted by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research found that 35 percent of Jews felt unsafe in Britain in 2025, compared with nine percent in 2023 before the Hamas attacks, and 32 percent of Jews reported experiencing at least one antisemitic incident in 2024.
The Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester and Region described the assault as “horrendous” and “the culmination of two years of constant Jew hatred”.
In a statement, the organisation said “the community’s worst fears came true” and said it was the result of “those who wish to attack us because of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza”.
The Community Security Trust (CST), a charity that monitors antisemitic incidents, recorded 1,521 cases in the UK from January to June 2025. This was the second-highest total ever recorded in the first half of any year, second only to the first six months of 2024 with 2,019 in the immediate aftermath of the 7 October atrocity.
Dave Rich, CST’s director of policy, underlined the significance of the timing. “The symbolism of this day [on Yom Kippur] makes the attack even more distressing,” he said.
While the investigation into al-Shamie’s motives continues (three suspects have also been arrested on suspicion of commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism), counter-terrorism police and the MI5 security service have for some time been on alert for “blowback” from the war in Gaza. On September 18, the Islamic State group urged its followers to carry out attacks on Jewish and Christian targets in Europe, especially in Britain.
And unfortunately we have seen what happened next. So how are we supposed to react to this terrorist attack?
Many thanks to the Economist journalist Anshel Pfeffer who shared this prescient piece on X last night. Written a decade ago, Keith Kahn-Harris said that, should there be an attack on a synagogue, he dreaded the cacophony from right and left on how we should react to antisemitism:
If and when it happens, Jews like me will need compassion, sympathy and support. But perhaps most of all, we will need the dignity and integrity of our community to be maintained. We will need to be listened to, even when what we express is not easy to hear.
…if and when it happens, I hope that those who are not British Jews will react in ways that preserve our dignity and coherence as a group and do not simply exploit and exacerbate our divisions. If you don’t support the indiscriminate murder of Jews, you should also support our survival as a community in Britain.
I couldn’t put it better myself.
Today, my thoughts are with the Jewish victims and their families. No ifs and no buts.