The attack on a Manchester Synagogue is a tragedy, but it is not a surprise, writes Iain Dale

This Yom Kippur, however, is also now a day of mourning for our community, after a terrorist attack at a synagogue claimed the lives of at least two people and injured others.

There is a history of Jewish holy days being exploited by the enemies of Jews; famously, the Yom Kippur War in 1973 started as a surprise attack on the Jewish State by its neighbouring enemies, and the October 7th attacks in 2023, perpetrated by Hamas, corresponded with the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah.

Again today, Jews are killed on the holiest day of the year - this time in the UK, at a place of worship.

Of course, today’s attack will be blamed on the perpetrator, but many will ask why our community’s concerns haven’t been taken more seriously, and why more hasn’t been done to prevent this from happening in the first place.

This attack is the culmination of two years of growing and well-documented hatred directed against the Jewish community, which has gone largely unchecked. We have routinely seen hate marches take over our major cities, where the use of disgusting antisemitic language has become the norm, rather than an exception.

Musicians promoting violence against ‘zionists’ have faced few consequences. Anti-Jewish crimes have risen to unprecedented heights according to the Community Security Trust; Jewish businesses have been vandalised, and Jewish community centres have been smeared with faeces.

Frighteningly, we’ve seen institutional failures that have resulted in some of these incidents being barely punished.

A terror suspect who waved a Hezbollah flag walked free after Lord Hermer’s recent ‘legal blunder’.

A man who wielded a knife at staff at a Kosher supermarket whilst demanding to hear people’s views on Israel and Palestine was spared jail last year.

Charges were dropped against men who screamed through a megaphone, ‘F*** the Jews…f*** all of them. F*** their mothers, f*** their daughters [...] Rape their daughters’, whilst driving a car draped in a Palestinian flag through a Jewish area.

It is difficult to argue that viable and legitimate threats against Britain’s Jewish community have been dealt with adequately.

Equally unsurprising as the attack itself are the messages of condolences posted by a number of politicians who have watched on as anti-Jewish hate has been allowed to flourish, at best showing indifference to the Jewish community’s legitimate concerns, and at worst fanning the flames of this spiralling hatred.

From our university lecture theatres to our music halls, we’ve heard calls to ‘globalise the intifada’, whilst our government has meandered over the chant’s meaning, afraid to grapple with the issue. Today we saw what globalising the intifada looks like - something the Jewish community has long warned of.

This attack, like all terror attacks, is an attempt to instil fear into our community, into our way of life - but it won’t succeed.

Heartbroken, yes, frustrated, yes, but cowering? Absolutely not. Jewish people around the country will continue to flock to synagogues in the days ahead, including many who would not have felt compelled to do so before today’s attack.

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Ben Freeman is the Executive Director of the Pinsker Centre, a think tank focused on international relations and Middle Eastern affairs.

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