UK on high alert after deadly Terror attack outside Manchester Synagogue

Britain was placed on heightened security alert Friday following a terror attack outside a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur that left two people dead and three others critically injured.

Police said the attacker, identified as Jihad al-Shamie, a UK citizen of Syrian origin, rammed a car into worshippers at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue before launching a stabbing spree. Armed officers shot him dead within minutes, after he was found wearing a vest that appeared to carry explosives but was later discovered to be non-functional.

The victims were named as Adrian Daulby, 53, and Melvin Cravitz, 66, both residents of the Crumpsall neighborhood. Three others remain in serious condition in hospital. Greater Manchester Police confirmed the arrest of three additional suspects — two men in their 30s and a woman in her 60s — on terrorism-related charges.

Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood said the UK was “absolutely on high alert,” stressing that extra police resources had been deployed nationwide to safeguard Jewish communities. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who cut short his attendance at a European summit in Denmark to chair an emergency meeting in London, vowed to “do everything in my power” to protect the Jewish community and was expected to visit Manchester on Friday.

The attack, one of the worst antisemitic incidents in Europe since the October 2023 Hamas-led assault on Israel, has drawn strong reactions. Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar accused UK authorities of failing to clamp down on “rampant antisemitic and anti-Israeli incitement.”

Meanwhile, Thursday’s pro-Palestinian rally in London went ahead despite government concerns, leading to 40 arrests. Mahmood described the protests as “fundamentally un-British” and urged activists to allow the Jewish community time to grieve.

Britain’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis called the incident “the tragic result of Jew hatred,” warning that it reflected years of rising antisemitism across the country.

Local Jewish residents, many of whom only learned of the attack after the Yom Kippur fast ended, expressed shock but also resignation. “Of course, everyone in the community in recent years has experienced some sort of antisemitism,” said Alex, a 31-year-old company director who knew one of the victims. “The conflict in Israel has definitely exacerbated the feelings of resentment.”