Jewish community leaders in the United Kingdom and around the world responded with grief, anger and frustration to news of the deadly terror attack at a Manchester synagogue during Yom Kippur services on Thursday.
The terrorist, Jihad al-Shamie, a 35-year-old British citizen of Syrian descent, rammed his car into people outside Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue, and then began stabbing them, killing two members of the Jewish community and seriously injuring four before he was shot dead by police on the scene.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews, the country’s largest Jewish organization, said it was “devastated” by the attack.
“Our thoughts are with their families, those who are injured and receiving treatment, and all those who have been affected by this act of antisemitic terror,” the organization said in a joint statement with the Jewish Leadership Council.
However, it said, the attack did not come as a surprise.
“At a time of rising antisemitism in the UK, this attack was sadly something we feared was coming, the umbrella group wrote on X. “We call on all those in positions of power and influence to take the required action to combat hatred against Jewish people and will be working with the authorities on a series of additional measures to protect our community over the coming days.”
Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis also argued that the attack was all but inevitable given the UK’s toxic environment for Jews.
A protester is carried away by police officers at a “Lift The Ban” demonstration in support of the proscribed group Palestine Action, in Parliament Square, central London, on September 6, 2025. (Justin Tallis / AFP)
“This is the day we hoped we would never see, but which deep down, we knew would come,” he wrote on X. “For so long we have witnessed an unrelenting wave of Jew hatred on our streets, on campuses, on social media and elsewhere – this is the tragic result.
“This is not only an assault on the Jewish community, but an attack on the very foundations of humanity and the values of compassion, dignity and respect which we all share.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks with Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, at the Holocaust Education Trust appeal dinner, in London, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (Isabel Infantes/Pool via AP)
Mirvis said he spoke with Rabbi Daniel Walker, the spiritual leader of the Heaton Park Synagogue, who was hailed by witnesses as a hero for barricading the doors to the synagogue to stop the attacker from getting inside the sanctuary.
“His courageous leadership, together with the resilience of his congregation, is an inspiration to us all,” Mirvis wrote.
I have spoken this evening to PM @Keir_Starmer about today’s appalling terrorist attack against our Jewish community in Manchester. I thanked him for cutting short an overseas visit to take urgent action. We are discussing additional measures to protect & safeguard our community. https://t.co/JYkya40dTF
— Phil Rosenberg (@PhilR_R) October 2, 2025
Since Hamas launched its war against Israel on October 7, 2023, the UK’s community of some 300,000 Jews has experienced a surge of anti-Jewish hatred “on our streets, online, in education, and across civil society,” the Board of Deputies said in a report published earlier this year.
Anti-Israel protesters have repeatedly threatened violence against local Jews, including those at rallies that erupted at Downing Street shortly after the attack on Thursday.
Jihad al-Shamie, the suspect who carried out a deadly terrorist attack at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation in Manchester, UK, on Yom Kippur, October 2, 2025. (Image circulated on social media used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Earlier in the day, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the attacker was “a vile individual [who] committed a terrorist attack that attacked Jews because they are Jews, and attacked Britain because of our values.”
“To every Jewish person in this country: I promise that I will do everything in my power to guarantee you the security you deserve,” he added on X.
Protesters hold a banner calling for sanctions to be placed on Israel during a demonstration in support of Palestinians in Gaza, in London on July 29, 2025. (Justin Tallis / AFP)
But some were not impressed.
“Governments the world over should spare us the statements about fighting antisemitism and instead ensure Jews are safe,” Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, President of the Conference of European Rabbis, said following the attack. “More needs to be done to stamp out murderous ideologies.”
In a statement released shortly after the attack, the Community Security Trust, a security and advocacy group for British Jews, said it was “utterly appalled” by the attack and “devastated” by the number of people killed and injured.
CST said it was working closely with police in Manchester and across the country to ensure security around Jewish communities over the coming days and weeks, and thanked the security guards at the synagogue and police officers for responding swiftly to the attack.
A police officer stands on duty at a cordon near Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Crumpsall, north Manchester, on October 2, 2025 (Paul Currie / AFP)
It called on people attending synagogue or any other Jewish premises to avoid congregating outside synagogues and communal premises, and for institutions to keep their doors closed at all times.
The mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, condemned the attack as “a horrific antisemitic attack on our Jewish friends and neighbors” and urged people to “stand together in these difficult times.”
“Tonight, our first thoughts are with the families of those people who died, those injured and those traumatized by this, a horrific antisemitic attack on our Jewish friends and neighbors,” Burnham said, according to a report in The Guardian. “We condemn it outright.”
Members of the community comfort each other near Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Crumpsall, north Manchester, on October 2, 2025, following a deadly terrorist attack at the synagogue. (Paul Currie / AFP)
Antisemitic incidents in the UK have soared following Hamas’ devastating October 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war in Gaza.
More than 1,500 incidents were reported in the first half of the year, the second-highest reported since the record set a year earlier, CST said in August.
A protester is carried away by police officers at a “Lift The Ban” demonstration in support of the proscribed group Palestine Action, in Parliament Square, central London, on September 6, 2025. (JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP)
Last month, a poll conducted by YouGov in collaboration with Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) found that more than one in five British adults now hold entrenched antisemitic views, while almost half think Israel treats the Palestinians like the Nazis treated the Jews.
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