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The attack on the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Manchester was outrageous. It took two innocent lives, and several others were injured. Yet it could have happened almost anywhere. It is an event with wider national meaning and lessons. On Thursday morning, Britain looked over the edge into one of the dark places to which modern public life has been heading. Having looked and seen, Britain now needs to learn and step back.
The violence began around 9.30am, just as morning prayers were being held on Yom Kippur, Judaism’s most solemn and sacred day. The synagogue was inevitably well attended. Yet within a short period of time, two Jewish victims lay dead from stabbing, with four others injured, outside what ought to be a place of prayer and community. The attacker was then himself shot and killed, possibly as he attempted to get inside the building. He may have been armed with an explosive device.
Not all the details have yet been established. The solemnity of Yom Kippur means some Jewish accounts have not yet been heard. Fuller facts will become clearer in the days to come. Greater Manchester police appear to have acted quickly, decisively and effectively. Synagogue security and worshippers played a brave part too – an example of a heroism that has often marked the public response.
What is beyond dispute is this: it was the most lethal attack on a synagogue in this country in modern times. It was a wholly unprovoked act of antisemitic terror. It was, however, grimly foreseen and feared. It ought to be a wake-up call to the wider nation.
The immediate task is to ensure that the Jewish community in every part of Britain is protected in every possible way from the danger of further attack. That duty goes beyond the security guards who are now part of routine Jewish community life, and even beyond the police, who have quickly been mobilised to guard other synagogues. Responsibility also rests with us all, as citizens. The prime minister was absolutely right to make this his business too, cutting short his engagements in Denmark and returning to head up the response. The safety of the community and of its individual members and families is a state responsibility.
The Heaton Park attack is a new and shocking climax to a tide of antisemitic violence that has grown larger since the awful events of 7 October 2023. In the 12 months after the Hamas massacre, there were 5,583 incidents in the UK – including abusive behaviour, threats, assaults, damage and desecration – a 204% year-on-year increase. We are within days of the second anniversary now. The Middle East conflict has had terrible repercussions across the globe. The damage gets worse, not better. People of every faith and none feel angry, powerless and frightened. Yet there is nothing that can justify any part of what took place outside the synagogue.
On Tuesday, less than 48 hours before the attacker arrived outside the synagogue, Sir Keir Starmer told the Labour conference that Britain has reached a fork in the road, where it faces a choice between division and decency. Political speeches are frequently banal and often overstated, but the prime minister’s words turn out to be more true than he could have known. The road to division lies right in front of us. But the road to decency is the one that we must take.
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