ANALYSIS: Today is the day we feared. It must be the day Britain finally wakes up
Two people have been murdered after a car was driven at members of the public and a man was stabbed outside a Manchester synagogue. Britain is now at a crossroads
Today is the day we feared. The day British Jews have long dreaded but knew would come. The first deadly attack on a UK synagogue.
At 9.31 this morning, on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, a car was driven into worshippers at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation in north Manchester. According to eyewitnesses, a man leapt from the vehicle and began stabbing. Armed officers fired shots at the suspect, who is believed to be dead. Two synagogue-goers have been murdered. Others are being treated for injuries.
British Jews live under security unparalleled for any minority group. Guards and barbed wire outside schools and synagogues. Volunteers patrolling buildings. Mums and dads standing on street corners with walkie-talkies, doing their best to keep loved ones safe (One of the injured is understood to be such a person). Families figuring out which shul or school is safest to attend. Children taught classroom lockdown drills.
This is the nightmare, echoing the darkest days of the last century, my Jewish family and every other has nervously discussed around the dinner table while trying not to alarm the children. The nightmare every community leader has talked about in private meetings with politicians and the police. Tonight Jewish parents must decide whether to send their children to school tomorrow. Congregants will think twice before attending Shabbat services this weekend.
In 2018, a man attacked Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, killing 11 people. In Halle, Germany in 2019, an attacker attempted to storm a synagogue on Yom Kippur with guns and explosives. Only a locked door saved the 52 people inside. Two people were murdered in the street. Across Europe, we’ve seen shootings in Copenhagen, stabbings in Marseille and hostage-takings in Paris.
The UK felt like the exception. Until today.
We like to believe antisemitism here is different. Less dangerous. Today’s attack strips away that naïve illusion.
The temptation, as ever, will be to downplay. To say this was one disturbed individual. That would be a profound mistake. The atmosphere in this country has changed. Jewish communities live with it every day.
An attack on a synagogue is an attack on Britain. If citizens cannot gather to pray in safety, every promise of tolerance in this country rings hollow.
Three truths must now be faced.
First, antisemitism is not just a Jewish issue. It is the key test of our democracy’s health. If Jews cannot live here safely, neither can anyone else.
Second, the Jewish community’s security cannot be left to Jewish charities and volunteers. The Community Security Trust is remarkable but does the work of the state. Armed protection outside synagogues on high-risk days is now paramount.
Third, words matters. When mainstream figures (you know who you are) wink at conspiracy theories, indulge in Holocaust relativism and excuse chants for violence against Jews, they make attacks like today’s possible.
Britain is at a crossroads.
The Jews of Britain are 0.4 percent of the population. They cannot fight this battle alone.
Today is the day we feared. The day we knew was coming. The question now is whether it is also the day Britain wakes up.
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