The Failure of Foresight that Led to the Manchester Synagogue Attack

Image - Levi Meir Clancy

On Thursday 2^nd October, which for the Jewish community was Yom Kippur – the holiest day of the Jewish calendar – a man by the name of Jihad Al-Shamie drove into pedestrians at the Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester, injuring three people, before getting out of the car and attacking66-year-old Melvin Cravitz to death with a knife. Recent findings have been hard to digest. Greater Manchester Police shot Al-Shamie dead on the scene. The police also confirmed a member of the synagogue, 53-year-old Adrian Daulby, incurred a gunshot wound from the police force as well, but they did not confirm this was the cause of his death. The police commended Mr Cravitz’s and Mr Daulby’s bravery in stopping the attacker from entering the synagogue building. It has also been revealed that the Jihadist attacker was on bail after being arrested on suspicion of rape. It’s a heart-breaking story on all fronts, and most importantly shows how the UK government have an existential task on their hands.

So what, prior to the Heaton Park Synagogue terrorist attack, shows that the warning signs were all there? Since Israel’s offensive on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which followed Hamas’s barbaric attack murdering, gang-raping, and kidnapping over 1,200 people in Israel on October 7^th2023, London has been home to protests in which calls for Jihad and to ‘globalise the intifada’ have been common. There are calls to initiate a Holy War against the enemies of Islam – which, in the context of Hamas, calls for the annihilation of Israel and death of all Jews. Perhaps the biggest mistake by the police was suggesting that some of these protestors assumed a different meaning of these genocidal chants, or even perhaps by calling their bluff. Moreover, the protests across the UK were met with an equally disgraceful front on social media. The attacker’s father, Faraj Al-Shamie, praised Hamas’s attack on October 7^th, calling the Hamas terrorists ‘God’s men on earth’, and the ‘true compass for men’.

Were these signals entirely ignored by the police since these protests started? No. Some 850 protestors supporting the proscribed terrorist organisation Palestinian Action have been arrested and many more for supporting Hamas. However – the police force and government have clearly been insufficient in grasping the severity of the problem. The Community Security Trust (CST), the security organisation tasked with the protection of Jewish communities across the UK, have recorded the highest levels of antisemitic incidents since records began following October 7^th 2023.The virus of antisemitism has crossed borders too; a terrorist stabbed a man at Berlin’s Holocaust memorial in February this year, a childcare centre in a Jewish community in Sydney was set alight with antisemitic graffiti sprayed on the wall in January this year, a terrorist was arrested in Canada following the release of his plans for a mass shooting at a Jewish Centre in Brooklyn in support of ISIS in September last year, and the list goes on.

Unfortunately I have not the time nor the character-limit capacity to list them all, but the point remains clear: violent antisemitism is spreading virally across the world, the warning signs are there, and more needs to be done.

The Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, made a return from the European Political Community gathering in Copenhagen, and promptly made a speech regarding the Manchester Synagogue attack. In his speech he made two promises to the Jewish community in the UK; firstly, that he’d do everything in his power to ‘guarantee’ the security deserved, with ‘more police presence’ and secondly, he promised the Jewish community would see ‘other side’ of Britain, that of ‘compassion’, ‘decency’, and ‘love’.

It's certainly fair to say increased police protection is necessary. One can only imagine what worse may have happened had the brave CST volunteers and police force had not acted with bravery and speed.

Moreover, it’s become fairly apparent in the following days, that compassion is certainly not the merits of ‘the other side’ of Britain.

It took only until Thursday evening, the same day of the attack, for groups such as Palestine Action and Defend Our Juries to take to the streets of London, pushing fear amongst Jewish communities and further spreading police attention, resulting in over 40 arrests.

Many in government, including the Prime Minister, urged those considering protesting on the Saturday following the attack that took place on Thursday to ‘respect the grief of the British Jews’, understanding demonstrations would cause further pain to mourners. The Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley made it clear that these protests risked ‘endorsing antisemitism’ and would certainly make efforts to defend Jewish communities harder, at times when it’s needed most.

Greater Manchester Friends of Palestine and Palestine Action in London have made clear their protests will go ahead. Over a thousand pro-Palestine supporters rallied on Saturday in London, with at least 442 arrested. Calls for the ‘intifada’ and antisemitic rhetoric persisted, including a man wearing a hoodie with a swastika drawn over a Star of David.

It was no surprise that when the Deputy Prime Minister, David Lammy, spoke at the vigil for the victims of the terrorist attack on the day after the attack, he was heavily heckled with ‘Go to Palestine, leave us alone’, ‘you’ve allowed it to grow on the campuses’, and ‘you have blood on your hands’, being among some of what was said.

Perhaps the Jewish community of Manchester understood the warning signs the whole time.

Perhaps the British Jewish community are acutely aware that when Jewish hatred goes unchecked, Jews are targeted, murdered, and can no longer pray on the holiest day of their year without fear for their lives.

Now we can be clear; these warning signs were real threats, and must be acted on accordingly. Sir Keir Starmer made a promise with extreme weight and consequence, and its progress and execution will be a defining part of his premiership, and for the future of British Jewish community.

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