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Heaton Park survivor says son received death threats as Jewish families ‘hide their identity’
Yoni Finlay says the community still does not feel safer almost a year after the deadly synagogue terror attack
The son of a survivor of the Heaton Park Synagogue terror attack has received death threats as his family continues to live with the fallout from the atrocity, his father has revealed.
Yoni Finlay, who was seriously wounded while helping to stop terrorist Jihad Al-Shamie entering the Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur last year, said Jewish people were being forced to conceal their identity amid continuing fears over their safety.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme almost a year after the attack, Finlay said: “My son, who is in college at the moment, has faced death threats.”
Asked whether the Jewish community felt safer, he said: “I don’t think things feel safer. I think we certainly live behind ever-increasing gates, more security than we’ve ever had.
“Any event that we attend within the community, the address is never displayed on the poster.
“Jewish people are having to hide their identity.”
Finlay was among worshippers who barricaded the doors of Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation as Al-Shamie attempted to force his way inside on 2 October 2025.
He was struck by a police bullet during the response and spent two weeks in hospital.
Melvin Cravitz, 66, and Adrian Daulby, 53, were killed in the attack, which took place as the congregation marked Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
Finlay’s comments came as the synagogue’s Rabbi Daniel Walker separately warned that the position facing British Jews had deteriorated rather than improved in the months since the attack.
Speaking to the BBC, he said: “I think we’re actually almost in a harder position than we were even immediately after the attack. I think the sense of vulnerability has grown. It hasn’t diminished.”
Rabbi Walker pointed to further violence against Jewish people since the Manchester atrocity, including the stabbing of two Jewish men in Golders Green in April.
Reflecting on the months since the attack on his own congregation, he said: “Something has gone seriously wrong in our society.
“I think we’re dealing with symptoms. We’re extremely grateful for the increased security, but I don’t think there’s really any evidence of anyone dealing with the core problems.
“And on the contrary, in many ways, those may have become worse over the last months.”
He added: “I think (this is a) time when a lot of our community will be asking ourselves and the rest of society how we’re going to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
“I don’t think the community feel secure enough yet, for good reason.”
The warnings came as 850 people gathered at Heaton Park Synagogue on Monday evening to remember Cravitz and Daulby and mark almost a year since the attack.
Finlay addressed the congregation during the commemoration, telling those gathered that his life had changed forever but that the terrorist had failed to destroy the community.
“An evil person tried to destroy us on Yom Kippur, and together we have not let that evil win,” he said.
“Evil will never succeed because of who we are and what we do.”
The King sent a message to the service, while Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis, Communities Secretary Angela Rayner and Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Sir Stephen Watson were among figures who addressed or attended the gathering.
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