As news emerged of a targeted attack on a synagogue in Manchester, it seemed only a matter of time before it was declared a terrorist attack.
Confirmation came on the steps of Scotland Yard as assistant commissioner Laurence Taylor, national head of counter-terror policing, assured communities that “UK policing is mobilising – and mobilising fast”.
Police said there is no reason to suspect an increased threat to synagogues, but policing visibility would be stepped up.
London’s mayor Sadiq Khan said: “I want to reassure them that London will be seeing additional police officers.
“People should be allowed to go about and practice their faith knowing that they’re going to be safe.
“Unfortunately, too many Jewish Londoners, Jewish people across the country, Jewish people across the globe, don’t feel that way. And that’s heartbreaking.”
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The Community Security Trust (CST) which monitors antisemitism found that after the 7 October attack in Israel, anti-Jewish incidents doubled in the first half of 2024.
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Home Office figures support this, showing a third of recorded religious hate crimes are committed against Jewish people.
The Jewish Community had feared this day could come and had already put measures in place to protect themselves. The CST raises funds to provide security and helps mobilise volunteers to watch over buildings.
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Bravery of security guards and worshippers
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The prime minister observed Britain is a country where “Jewish buildings, synagogues, even schools require round-the-clock protection, where dedicated specialist security is necessary because of the daily threat of anti-Semitic hatred”.
Sir Keir Starmer added: “Today’s horrific incident shows why, and while this is not a new hate, this is something Jews have always lived with.
“We must be clear it is a hatred that is rising once again, and Britain must defeat it once again.”
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Ahmed Ali Alid was responsible for the last terrorist murder in the UK.
In October 2023, the asylum seeker attacked a Christian housemate in Hartlepool but said he was inspired by the war in Gaza.
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In October last year, the director of MI5, Ken McCallum, said security services were “powerfully alive to the risk that events in the Middle East directly trigger terrorist action in the UK, as we saw with last October’s knife attack in Hartlepool”.
He added: “The ripples from conflict in that region will not necessarily arrive at our shores in a straightforward fashion; they will be filtered through the lens of online media and mixed with existing views and grievances in unpredictable ways.”
Marauding attacks are unpredictable and quick.
In 2017 the three London Bridge attackers killed six people in eight minutes – before they were shot.
The same year, the Westminster Bridge attacker killed five people in 82 seconds.
In Manchester, the attacker was shot within seven minutes of a call from the public.
That phone call probably saved lives. It’s likely so did the security precautions that all synagogues routinely deploy.
That fortressing of their lives, schools, and places of worship must sadly – be stepped up.
