On Monday, barely 48 hours before the start of the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, the UK’s chief rabbi Ephraim Mirvis issued a message to British Jews.
“I am mindful of the fact that we are currently in the era of the unpredictable,” he said.
Few could have predicted what happened on Thursday at Heaton Park synagogue in Manchester, where Jihad Al-Shamie, a Syrian-British man, launched an attack that left two Jewish worshippers dead. Al-Shamie was also shot dead by police.
While this specific attack could hardly have been foreseen, many British Jews have been warning for two years – ever since war broke out in Gaza – that they were experiencing greater levels of anti-Semitism and feared an attack on British soil.
RM Block
The Community Security Trust (CST), a volunteer group that provides security to UK synagogues, reported 1,521 anti-Semitic incidents in the first six months of the year. It said this was the second-highest total it had ever recorded, after the first half of 2024 in the aftermath of the October 7th attacks that precipitated Israel’s brutal war in Gaza.
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On Friday, as Britain’s Jews still reeled from the Manchester attack, Mirvis criticised what he said was an “unrelenting wave of hatred” that, he argued, had been unleashed against them in recent times.
Recent examples of anti-Semitism include a spate of vandalism attacks at London synagogues in September, in which human waste was smeared on their doors.
Mirvis has accused pro-Palestine protesters of fomenting anti-Semitic feeling, which the organisers of the main Palestinian marches in London deny. They say their target is the state of Israel and its actions in Gaza, where its critics accuse it of genocide.
Still, there was an “urgent need for [British] national soul-searching” over anti-Semitism, said the rabbi.
Meanwhile, London braced for a protest this Saturday by supporters of banned Palestine Action group, which the UK has proscribed a terrorist organisation.
Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, criticised the organisers for going ahead with it in the wake of the Manchester attack, hinting that she could yet order police to stop it.
It was “un-British”, said Mahmood, as she urged pro-Palestine protesters to “show some love” by postponing their plans.
In the midst of it all, the fears of British Jews could be keenly felt on Friday on the streets of north London, where Jewish communities are concentrated.
Census data records more than 270,000 Jews in England and Wales. More than half, or close to 145,000, live in London. Golders Green and Stamford Hill in north London are home to the two largest communities.
Stamford Hill, near Tottenham, is a stronghold of ultra-conservative orthodox Jews, known as Haredim. They are easily recognisable by the wide-rimmed black hats and overcoats worn by the men, while women also dress modestly and usually in black.
On Friday afternoon, Jews in Stamford Hill were busy preparing for Sukkot, a week-long religious festival that kicks off next week. During this time, many observant Jews build temporary sukkah huts to symbolise the conditions experienced by the expelled Israelites as they wandered the desert.
The Sukkah Depot selling building materials on Stamford Hill’s main drag was doing a roaring trade among Jewish men on Friday.
However, despite the semblance of business-as-usual, evidence of the community’s nervousness could be seen as private security guards patrolled in pairs wearing high-visibility vests.
The Irish Times also observed members of London’s Metropolitan Police watching over several bus stops on Stamford Hill, where groups of Jews congregated.
Some Jewish neighbourhoods in London are protected by a private volunteer force called the Shomrim. The organisation says its volunteers act as an extension of the Met force’s “eyes and ears” on the streets.
The Shomrim for Stamford Hill, as well as the northwest Shomrim that watches over Golders Green, both said they had been in contact with local police, who had promised them increased patrols of armed officers in their neighbourhoods.
Several groups of Met officers could also be seen stationed on the platforms at Golders Green Tube station on Friday.
Later, a large SUV with fluorescent stripes, almost indistinguishable from a police vehicle, could be seen driving up and down Golders Green Road. On the back, it said: “Shomrim.”
Anger among some British Jews at the UK government’s perceived unwillingness to rein in Palestinian protests boiled over on Friday at a vigil in Manchester for the victims of the synagogue attack.
David Lammy, the deputy prime minister who was until recently the UK’s foreign secretary where he oversaw a toughening of its stance towards Israel, was heckled by members of the Jewish community as he spoke.
Meanwhile, the CST said of the Manchester incident: “This kind of attack is the reason why we have such extensive security in place across the Jewish community.”
Mark Gardner, the organisation’s chief executive, revealed that one of the people who had been seriously injured in Thursday’s attack was a CST volunteer who helped to prevent Al-Shamie from gaining entry to the synagogue.
The CST warned synagogues to keep their doors locked and not to allow crowds to congregate outside after services.
Britain’s Jewish communities remain on high alert.
