MANCHESTER, England — “We are not Jews trembling on our knees,” Raphi Bloom, a leader of the Jewish community here, told more than 1,000 people gathered in the city’s center Oct. 5 to protest the killing of two Jews, Adrian Daulby and Melvin Cravitz, in an assault on the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation three days earlier. The attack was carried out when the North Manchester synagogue was busy on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year.
The rally, originally called to mark two years since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, pogrom, drew people who came to show solidarity with the congregation and express their opposition to the rise in Jew-hatred in the U.K. and worldwide.
“Two of our community were murdered simply for being Jews,” said Bloom, who worships at the synagogue.
On Oct. 2 Jihad al-Shamie, a British citizen of Syrian descent, rammed a car into worshipers who were defending the gates of the synagogue. He then ran toward several with a knife, stabbing some and charging the front door to try to get inside. One worshipper said al-Shamie screamed, “This is what you get for killing our children,” repeating a centuries-old blood libel smearing Jews and trying to justify their annihilation.
Witnesses said they could see what appeared to be bombs hanging from al-Shamie’s waist. Although the devices turned out to be fake, his intent was clear — to murder as many Jews as possible.
Worshipers fought al-Shamie off, preventing him from getting through the door. Police ended the assault by shooting him dead. In the course of defending the synagogue, three other worshippers were seriously injured.
Cops say that Daulby, who was defending the synagogue, was killed in police gunfire. His family issued a statement saying he died “during an act of courage to save others.” Cravitz also died trying to stop al-Shamie from getting inside.
Six other people have been arrested on suspicion of complicity in the attack.
At the Oct. 5 rally several people carried signs reading, “Never again is now” and “We shall dance again,” a slogan raised by survivors of Hamas’ assault on the Nova music festival in Israel, part of their Oct. 7 pogrom.
The killings have provoked widespread solidarity with the victims of the attack. Samuel Ashworth traveled to the rally from Blackburn to show his support. He told the Militant, “I didn’t know anything about Jewish people and what they faced until Oct. 7, then I looked into why they are targeted.”
“Every Jewish organization, every Jewish school, every Jewish communal organization has security outside. We’re the only faith community that has to do this all the time, that tells you something about what Jews face in Britain,” Raphi Bloom told LBC News.
“The government’s demonization of Israel has played a significant part in allowing Jew-hatred to flourish,” he said at the Manchester rally. “Two weeks ago it rewarded Hamas with the prize of Palestinian statehood, for which Hamas thanked them, calling this the ultimate fruit of Oct. 7.”
Hundreds joined a vigil outside the synagogue in Manchester Oct. 3. U.K. Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy from the Labour government was met with repeated shouts of “Shame on you!” from many in the crowd.
“We unequivocally condemn this anti-Semitic terrorist attack against Jewish worshippers during Yom Kippur,” wrote Eddie Dempsey, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers union in an Oct. 2 statement, one of several issued by union leaders.
At the Oct. 5 rally, members of the Communist League distributed a statement by Andrés Mendoza and Hugo Wils, the party’s candidates for Manchester City Council. “The Communist League stands in the front lines of the fight against Jew-hatred,” Mendoza and Wils wrote, “and in defense of Israel as an unconditional refuge for Jews.”
Thousands filled Trafalgar Square in London Oct. 5 to mark the Hamas pogrom and to protest the killings in Manchester.