Manchester synagogue terrorist 'made ex watch ISIS videos'
Manchester Synagogue attacker Jihad Al-Shamie forced his ex-girlfriend to watch extremist videos, it has been claimed.
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Al-Shamie, 35, was shot and killed by armed police after launching a knife attack outside Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Crumpsall, Greater Manchester, which claimed the lives of two men.
His ex told the Manchester Evening News that she dating him when she was an 18-year-old student but that he groomed her into a ‘controlling relationship’ that lasted around four months.
She said that she met him on a Muslim dating app and he lied about his age saying he was just 24 - and also hid details about his family life.
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She said he hit her on more than one occasion.
He also told her that he wanted to join ISIS.
She said: "He used to say, 'I want you to be dedicated to the cause', and he used to sit there and make me watch videos – like extreme videos – that I had no interest in. I am Muslim and of course I love to learn more. But this stuff was things that I have been raised to not agree with.”
The revelations emerged as hundreds of people joined a rally in Manchester marking the two-year anniversary of the Hamas attacks on Israel.
North West Friends of Israel decided to go ahead with the pre-planned event amid safety concerns in the wake of the terror attack on a synagogue in the city on Thursday, with crowds gathered outside Manchester Cathedral on Sunday morning.
People waved Israel flags and some held banners calling for the release of the hostages, including Alon Ohel, a 24-year-old musician.
Police and security guards from the Community Security Trust charity monitored the event, which also commemorated 53-year-old Adrian Daulby and Melvin Cravitz, 66, who died at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue.
Three men are still in hospital after the car and knife attack.
Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, who was on bail for an alleged rape, was shot dead by police on Thursday as he targeted the place of worship on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
It is believed Mr Daulby was shot dead by police while trying to stop Al-Shamie from entering the synagogue during the attack.
Mr Cravitz, from Crumpsall, died helping prevent the attacker from entering the premises.
A banner on the stage at the Manchester rally read: “Jews standing proud in the face of terrorism.
“Adrian’s and Melvin’s bravery will never be forgotten.
“We are not Jews with trembling knees.”
The rally came ahead of a similar event organised by the Board of Deputies of British Jews (BDBJ) in London’s Trafalgar Square later on Sunday, after almost 500 people were arrested over pro-Palestine protests in the same place on Saturday.
The BDBJ called for those arrested under the Terrorism Act at Saturday’s protests to be investigated for stirring up racial hatred.
In a statement on X, the BDBJ said: “The crass insensitivity shown by the protesters, more than 400 of whom were arrested for supporting a proscribed terrorist organisation, is an affront to public decency.”
Organisers Defend Our Juries said more than 1,000 people had gathered at the central London landmark to hold a mass, silent vigil protesting against the proscription while the names of Palestinian children killed in the Israel-Hamas conflict are read out.
The BDBJ’s rally happens ahead of Tuesday’s anniversary of the October 7 attacks on Israel, which triggered the war in Gaza.
Speakers include Sharone Lifschitz, a British-Israeli academic and film-maker and daughter of two former hostages, and Adam Ma’anit, a British-Israeli writer and campaigner whose cousin was taken hostage on October 7.
Shaun Lemel, a survivor of the attack on the Nova music festival, is also scheduled to speak while British-Israeli former hostage Emily Damari will address the event via video.
The BDBJ said security checks would be in place and there would be an enhanced police presence at the event following the Manchester synagogue terror attack.
Police forces have deployed extra officers to synagogues and other Jewish buildings to offer protection and reassurance in the aftermath of the attack.