By Yoruk Bahceli
MANCHESTER, England/LONDON (Reuters) -The attack on a synagogue in northern England on Thursday sent fear through a Jewish community already dealing with a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents, bringing warnings about the need to keep doors shut and avoid gathering in communal places.
It was the latest act of violence aimed at British Jews following Israel’s escalating military offensive in Gaza, a response to the October 2023 attacks by Hamas militants.
“I’m Jewish and absolutely terrified,” Vicky, who did not give her surname, told Reuters near the site of the attack on the synagogue in Manchester. “I just don’t feel safe.”
ANTISEMITIC INCIDENTS ON THE RISE IN BRITAIN
Across Britain, the number of reported antisemitic acts last year was the second highest in modern times. The Jewish charity which advises communities on security said the Hamas attack and subsequent war had helped fuel thousands of incidents, including cases of violent attacks and threats.
The attack occurred in Manchester in an area that is home to a large Jewish community. Hours after the incident, two cars drove past with Palestinian flags in the back and some men turned up in balaclavas where they could be heard muttering “Jews”, according to a Reuters journalist at the scene.
“I don’t know how, after you hear about such an awful attack, you come and try and antagonize the people, the victims to it,” Simon Cassel, a Jewish student who lived close to the synagogue, told Reuters.
The Community Security Trust (CST), the charity that coordinates security measures at Jewish institutions, urged Jews not to congregate outside communal premises or synagogues on Thursday and to keep their doors closed. Nearly 290,000 people identified as Jewish in the last census in 2021.
Britain’s police said they would be stepping up patrols around synagogues.
“I want to be clear, UK policing is mobilising. And mobilising fast,” said Laurence Taylor, head of counter-terrorism policing in Britain.
“Police forces are stepping up patrols across the country, at synagogues and Jewish sites and more widely to provide reassurance to all communities who are affected.”
INCREASED FUNDING TO PROTECT JEWISH COMMUNITY
The incident occurred less than a week before the two-year anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel.
The Israeli embassy in London called the incident “abhorrent and deeply distressing”.
In Britain, the number of antisemitic incidents in 2024 was more than double the number compared with the same period two years before, according to data compiled by the CST.
Of the 3,528 reported incidents, 201, or about 6%, were incidents of assault or other physical attacks. The CST said about half of the incidents involved inflammatory speech about the Israel-Hamas conflict alongside explicit expressions of anti-Jewish language, motivation or targeting.
In February last year the government promised 70 million pounds ($94 million) to a security fund for Jewish community sites to fund measures such as security guards, CCTV and alarm systems.
Synagogues and a children’s nursery in Golders Green, an area of north London with a large Jewish population, were reportedly smeared with faeces last month.
Dina, 46, who was attending a synagogue in Golders Green, said after the attack she would tell her two sons to stop wearing their Jewish cap, also known as a kippot, in public places like the London underground or buses.
“I’ll tell them to take off any signifying signs,” she said.
($1 = 0.7453 pounds)
(Reporting by Sophia Royle in Manchester and Yoruk Bahceli in London; Writing by Andrew MacAskill; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
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