Cold Fury
This article has been written in the small hours of the morning of Friday 3 October 2025. It represents my views as to the murder yesterday of two Jews here in Manchester. I make no apology for its length, though do ask for some forgiveness if I have drifted at all. It may be that next week I read this again and think I should have added something. Maybe. What I say now is that I urge my fellow Jews to keep safe, be vigilant and yet continue to lead your religious lives as you have done in the past. That way lies victory and self-respect. After yesterday’s appalling events I am certain we need both.
Along with thousands of other Jews, I went to Shul on Wednesday night to attend the Kol Nidre service. It was one of the best I have attended for some years. The turnout was excellent, the Chasan sang very nicely and I came away feeling well ready for the following day.
As we all now know, the following day, Thursday 2 October 2025 was far from excellent. It was the day two Jews were murdered by an Islamist assailant at Heaton Park Shul in North Manchester. Over the years various towns and cities across the world have become associated with some form of attack or other. The names are easy to remember, Paris, Toulouse, Pittsburgh, Jerusalem to name but a few. I didn’t think that Manchester would ever be added to that list. As of Thursday morning, I was proved wrong.
As far as I can tell, the two victims were members of the Shul, one of whom was acting on security that morning. By coincidence I was also on security for our shul at roughly the time of the attack, a connection which has not been lost on me. One of the victims was just doing what I was doing and have done for years now. Only this time his role proved fatal.
What was also not lost on me was the sad conclusion that this attack came as no surprise. There have been many commentators who have said that the rise in Jew-hate came about after October 7 2023. I disagree. The starting point was not 2023, but 2014 when the IDF last went into Gaza in any force. There was then a significant increase in anti-Semitism in the UK as a consequence. Whilst its overt manifestation might have receded after the ceasefire, the hatred did not.
The scene was set for a slow increase in Jews coming under attack under cover of anti-Israel sentiment. Universities, trades unions, local Government and many other institutions were targeted by the anti-Semites over a long period of time. The anti-Israel and anti-Semitic actions of many of these organisations post October 7 did not occur overnight. For many, the work to set them against us started years previously and come October 7, the Jew-haters took action with their social media comments, their open antagonism towards Jews and of course various motions at conferences or council meetings.
Similarly with the hate marches. Don’t tell me that these sprung up overnight. Nonsense. It takes time to organise a march involving tens of thousands of people. Remember they started within days of October 7, before the IDF began their campaign in Gaza. More forward planning.
So when the murders took place on Thursday of this week, it was against a background of almost 2 years of hate marches, of campaigns against Jews by Universities, trades Unions and theatres. Even music festivals saw open incitement to kill Jews. As for the BBC, they couldn’t have been more pro-Hamas if they tried. The common theme through all of these was the failure to protect us. Two tier policing became a commonly used phrase to describe the refusal by the police to protect us. Putting up posters about hostages was apparently an offence and they were forcibly removed because apparently they could be seen as provocative. Calls for intifada, clearly an incitement to violence, washed over the police like a light summer shower. No arrests there at all.
The general election last year saw 4 pro-Gaza candidates being successful in becoming MPs. Suddenly Labour lost control of these constituencies with a significant number of Muslim voters. The attitude of the new Labour government it appeared to me was to constantly seek approval of those MPs from those constituencies also with a significant number of Muslim voters. By then – July 2024 – we were just a nuisance, getting in the way of attempts to stigmatise Israel and marginalise us as a community.
Then the icing on the hate filled cake arrived. Recognition of Palestine. What was being recognised didn’t seem to matter, nor the fact there is no territory which could be described as a country. Recognition however meaningless in practical terms was another great victory for the Jew-haters.
And then, less than two weeks after recognition came Thursday October 2. Two Jews murdered by an Islamist terrorist on the holiest day of the Jewish year.
What has followed has been so ridiculous, so dishonest and so insulting that it is impossible to put into words how angry I am. I should add that I am not alone. If the comments on social media are anything to go by, ordinary people who are not Jewish have had more than enough. Staying with my anger, better described as cold fury, I had to listen to words of ‘support’ from the very people who have contributed to the increased atmosphere of hate against British Jews.
The Prime Minister has promised to do “everything” in his power to protect Jewish people as he said Britain must defeat antisemitic hate. Bit late now Sir Kier, not least because your recognition of Palestine made our position so much worse. Sadiq Khan the London Mayor only 2 weeks ago described the situation in Gaza as genocide. He may as well have described it as a volcano for all the truth there is in that description. Add this to his failure to do anything about the hate marches and his words of support after the attack ring hollow.
At one point on Thursday afternoon after being home for a break, I was facing the possibility of not being able to return to my Shul for the concluding service because of the risks associated with large numbers of people leaving after the end of the service. Fortunately this was not the case, and I could gain entry to attend the final prayers. I pause for a moment. Such were the risks of copy-cat attacks that I ran the possibility of not being able to follow my religion on its holiest day. This is not the stuff of the United Kingdom, it is a ghastly new world which has become more prevalent, more visible and yet incapable of being pushed back by those in power.
And finally, to top it all, the response of our communal leaders has been beyond pathetic. The final paragraph of the joint statement of the Board of Deputies and Jewish Leadership Council is a follows: “At a time of rising antisemitism in the UK, this attack was sadly something we feared was coming. 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.”
Is that it? Is that all they can say about the murder of two of our brothers? Where is the anger, the outrage, the screaming demands for the Government to stop the hate marches, roll back the discrimination in Universities and do something about the disgusting bias at the BBC. Nothing. Neither of these communal bodies made any overt attempt to stop the hate marches. The Board as I recall refused to do so on the basis they were not going to stand in the way of free speech. Maybe their advisors told them it wasn’t possible. Maybe. But when the community you claim to represent is under attack, surely it is your duty to at least try. Well, they didn’t. Not so representative after all.
The Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis said the incident was “the day we hoped we would never see, but which deep down, we knew would come”. He said the attack was the “tragic result” of an “unrelenting wave of Jew hatred on our streets, campuses, on social media and elsewhere”. He is of course absolutely right. My response to all of this is one of cold fury. We have been let down very badly by those who were charged to protect us and I am not convinced that we can recover from this position. If we do, then I believe it will come as a result of the efforts of so many British citizens who have expressed their concern and support on social media and elsewhere. To these people I say thank you very much, it is really appreciated. I will now watch with interest what actions are taken to reverse the situation in which we have been placed. I sincerely hope these actions are new, since the old ones clearly failed us.