A top Rabbi has called for the UK and Europe to declare a “state of emergency” to protect Jews saying “lives might have been spared” if governments had acted and protected communities from rising antisemitism. A year ago the European Jewish Association (EJA), which represents hundreds of Jewish communities, called on authorities to formally deploy a “heightened level of protection for Jewish communities”.
But on Thursday Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, murdered two Jewish worshippers and left three people in hospital with serious injuries in an antisemitic terror attack on Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue, in Manchester. Al-Shamie was shot dead by armed police.
In the wake of the atrocity, Rabbi Menachem Margolin, Chairman of the European Jewish Association (EJA), told the Daily Express: “The tragedy in Manchester proves what we warned of a year ago: Jews in Europe live under constant threat. We called for a state of emergency then, and if leaders had acted, lives might have been spared.
“This is not random violence — it is the result of a climate where demonising Israel has become acceptable, and Jews everywhere pay the price. We are witnessing the rise of ‘Israelised antisemitism’, and it is deadly.
“Europe must act immediately. Protect our synagogues and schools today — and change the rhetoric tomorrow. Security is vital, but without responsibility in politics and media, we will only prepare for the next funeral.”
Jihad Al-Shamie is understood to have entered the UK as a young child and was granted British citizenship in 2006 when he was around the age of 16. It is understood the 35-year-old’s name has not appeared in initial searches of police and security service records, and he is not thought to have been under investigation.
Neighbours of the synagogue killer said he had lived there since around 2021. One woman told the Telegraph: “He lived there 10 years, with no wife or kids that I could see. He never seemed to speak to anyone around here.”
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer visited an unnamed synagogue on Thursday evening after he vowed to do “everything in my power” to protect Jewish communities in the UK.
Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis said the terror attack was the “tragic result” of an “unrelenting wave of Jew hatred on our streets, campuses, on social media and elsewhere”.
He added: “This is the day we hoped we would never see, but which deep down, we knew would come.”
GMP Chief Constable Sir Stephen Watson praised the “immediate bravery” of security staff and worshippers who shut the attacker out during what Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham described as a “horrific antisemitic attack”.
Sir Stephen said: “There were a large number of worshippers attending the synagogue at the time of this attack, but thanks to the immediate bravery of security staff and the worshippers inside, as well as the fast response of the police, the attacker was prevented from gaining access.”
