Manchester venue ignored warnings about hate preacher followed by Heaton Park terrorist

One of Manchester’s most prominent concert venues has been heavily criticised for ignoring Jewish community concerns about a hate preacher it hosted earlier this year – after it transpired that his social media account was one of small number followed by the terrorist who carried out last week’s attack on Heaton Park Synagogue.

Bridgewater Hall in Manchester city centre hosted Sheikh Mishary Alafasy, a Kuwaiti cleric, in early January, ignoring concerns highlighted by the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester and Region (JRC) regarding extremist antisemitic comments made by the preacher.

At the time the JRC released a statement saying that “Despite raising our concerns regarding previous racist and inflammatory comments made by Sheikh Alafasy including calls for violence against Jewish people and social media posts accusing Jews of condoning child rape, the Trustees of the Bridgewater Hall and Leadership of Manchester City Council have not seen fit to cancel this event.

“To allow an extremist a prominent platform in one of our city’s most iconic venues makes a mockery of the assurances we have received to tackle antisemitism in all its forms. It also raises the serious risk of further attacks on Jews and the Jewish community in Greater Manchester.”

On Sunday, the Sun newspaper revealed that the Twitter account of Alafasy was one of just ten followed by Jihad al-Shamie, the terrorist who targeted Heaton Park Synagogue last Thursday during Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year.

In a TV interview on Monday, Marc Levy, chief executive of the JRC, described Bridgewater Hall’s response to his organisation:

“When we raised these issues with the venue they were initially ignored, and when we met with them we were dismissed out of hand”, he said.

Levy, whose own father was providing security outside Heaton Park Synagogue on Yom Kippur and was directly involved in efforts to bar the shul door to prevent the terrorist entering, said of Bridgewater Hall: “We were made to feel like we were being unreasonable. It subsequently transpired that the terrorist who attacked my community on Thursday, on Yom Kippur…had been following this Sheikh online…it’s not inconceivable that he would have been at the Bridgewater Hall that evening.”

In January, the JRC had highlighted how on 7 October 2023, the day of the Hamas atrocities, in a post to his 15 million followers on Twitter, Alafasy wrote: “O God, cast terror into the hearts of the Zionists.” Another post from Alafasy later in October 2023 falsely claimed that Jewish law permits the rape of non-Jewish girls once they reach the age of three, arguing that this “proves that they are the animals.”

The preacher had previously responded to the announcement of the Abraham Accords in 2020 between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, Alafasy wrote: “There is no benefit in normalisation with the treachery/betrayal of the Jews. No matter what [countries] signed agreements with them.” He had also previously described what he termed as “[The] characteristics of the Jews: their eagerness to wage wars and [spreading] corruption in the land.”

After Levy’s TV interview on Monday, the JRC provided further detail regarding their interactions with Bridgewater Hall.

“We had to push for a meeting and eventually this was granted”, they said.

“Alongside a close communal colleague, we expected to receive an apology and informed that due diligence procedures were not followed with future safeguards put in place.”

Jewish News understands that the communal colleague in question was a representative of CST.

“We were amazed that there was no contrition or remorse that the venue had hosted an extremist”, the JRC statement continued.

“Due diligence had apparently been followed and when pushed for an explanation we were told that the Bridgewater Hall needs to remain open to all communities. When agreeing with this sentiment but highlighting how it cannot be right to host someone who has been responsible for Neo Nazi level antisemitism, we were dismissed with mealy mouthed reassurances that the event to the best of their knowledge passed peacefully.

“This is just one of the incalculable number of instances where the concerns of our community were merely dismissed. It was clear that the meeting that the meeting was merely a tick box exercise to say they had met the Jewish community. This is the line in the sand we speak about. When we raise these concerns they need to be heard and acted upon.”

Bridgewater Hall has been contacted for comment.