The Manchester Synagogue Attack
Jewish Voice for Liberation (formerly Jewish Voice for Labour) is saddened and horrified by the abhorrent, murderous attack on Jewish worshippers at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Manchester. As congregants were gathering for the morning Yom Kippur service, which is the holiest event in the Jewish calendar, a man wielding a knife attacked and killed 2 people, injuring four others seriously. Yom Kippur, the day of atonement for our wrongdoings is a day of reflection and a 25 hour fast for observant Jews. The killer clearly targeted Jews on this important day for Jewish people. We extend our sincere condolences to the families, friends and community of those who were killed.
Nothing can justify these murders and we do not know the motivation of the attacker. To attack a place of worship is particularly heinous. We welcome the statement issued within hours by the Manchester Council of Mosques which included these words: “We urge everyone to remain calm, allow the police to carry out their investigations, and to avoid speculation. It is vital at moments like these that we stand together as one Manchester — united against hatred and committed to peace, justice, and respect for all.”
We mourn the deaths of those killed today as we mourn all violent deaths and racist attacks. We note the worrying rise in antisemitism and in Islamophobia both in the UK and far too many other countries.
Our comrades in Greater Manchester JVL have been especially deeply affected by these murders. One of the founding members has family members who attend this synagogue and it is where she has been for family events such as Barmitzvahs and weddings. As Jews and as human beings committed to peace and to justice we condemn this act unequivocally and see this as an attack not only on the Jewish community but also on diversity in our society. Another said: “although we don’t know the motivation yet, we can say that the actions and words of Netanyahu and the Israeli state, claiming to represent all Jews worldwide are placing diaspora Jews at increasing risk of violence.”
This attack is now added to attacks on other places of worship, such as the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, USA, on the Mosque in Christchurch, (Aoteoroa, New Zealand), the deadly attack on a church in Michigan, USA that took place just four days ago (on 28th September) as well as the attacks on churches and mosques in Palestine. Nothing but nothing justifies murder and we must continue to work against divisions that will always work against the interests of ordinary people.
It is truly a bitter pill to swallow that Netanyahu sends his gloating condolences, and Jewish spokespeople talk again of hate marches. Condolences to our fellow Jews in Manchester.
Well judged statement. Thanks.
An important and respectful comment. Thank you. It is worrying that the far right are stoking fear. It is a very old synagogue and I think where my parents married in 1941!
This is a great statement, thank you.
I Totally agree with this statement. To attack innocent people on their holy day, Yom Kippur, is especially heinous. A vile and stupid act that helps no one. I detest the Israeli government. I do not detest the Jewish people wherever they live. My sincere condolences to the relatives, friends and the whole Jewish community.
A moving and sensitive statement. As it says, “we don’t know the motivation of the attacker” and I’m certainly speaking only for myself in saying I find it hard to agree with the immediate response of politicians and mainstream journalists and many commenters to deem the attack antisemitic and only antisemitic. Nobody deserved to be murdered, not least the victims today. But was it simply the classic definition, “derogating Jews simply for being Jews”? As I’m writing I’ve heard that the assassin has been identified. We still don’t know what might have been in his mind but superficially it’s plausible to attribute his action to an irrational psychopathological mechanism of displaced aggression, perhaps amplified by the kinds of remarks, cited in JVL’s statement, by Netanyahu and other Israeli politicians. And that’s no excuse for no matter how much anyone might be provoked or enraged by the horror of world events, we’re all still accountable for what we do, especially when, as now, that horror is transmuted and replicated before another traumatised society. That society, our society, rightly demands justice be done to register in the strongest way our uttermost disapproval.
Another aspect which is troubling is what almost amounts to a quasi-hypnotic suggestion, that we in the Jewish community should feel fear, amounting even to a sense of no longer feeling at home in our own land. Which, of course, has long been the cry of Zionism. Surely no-one really wants to feel chronically fearful, but it’s easy to see how such an attitude can become entrenched within a repertoire of emotions.
And then there’s the incentive for authorities to amplify the censorship we’re already seeing, to intensify rhetoric, to crack ever more whips. We need, as someone once said, cool heads.
Thank you for this moving and unequivocal condemnation of yesterday’s horrific attack at the Manchester Synagogue. Thank you also for continually repeating the message that all violence, all racism, hatred and prejudice is abhorrent. We are one people and we stand together against all attempts to divide us into those worthy of respect and humanity and those not.
You say nothing but nothing justifies murder and then you then blame Netanyahu make your mind up totally inappropriate
You are right, nothing justifies this murder. Telling that Netanyahu’s actions create the environment for this crime does not justify it. Explanation is different from justification
For comparison, an abusive childhood may lead someone to become abusive in their turn. This explains, it does not justify.
We are all responsible for how we react to the world about us. Some make good choices, some do not.
In my opinion the deputies and the Zionist lobby are as guilty of the murder of the worshippers who got killed, and should be done for hate crime, misinformation and incitement to violence.
And as the person shooting the worshippers was himself shot by the police, I doubt if those in power will investigate or do anything major to find out why this horrible crime was committed.
I think if people in power continuously tell lies, these will eventually be believed and then take on a life of their own. And then of course they backfire often dramatically.
What do we know about the person committing the crime? Has he lost family because of the genocide, the bombings? Is violence/killing his way of expressing his dislike towards those inhumane entities who don’t think twice about killing, starving or abusing children.
Maybe these powerful and nasty monsters need to realise that the continuous misinformation /manipulation / lies and callousness they dish out can and will eventually push already traumatised people over the edge, who may feel that violence and murder are all they have to make a stand against the suffering and injustice they see all around them. Afterall, what have they got to lose?
And they have seen so many times that others get away with it.
Please feel free to edit or bin it.
NETANYAHU’S CHILDREN
the minor politicians
interviewed for television
outside the synagogue in northern Manchester
seemed over-willing to connect the murders
with the peaceful marches calling for an end
to genocide in Gaza. It is not antisemitic
to condemn the State of Israel, although
the State of Israel demands you think this
which would help explain the attack
on the synagogue in northern Manchester
every synagogue being Israel
there’s a circular logic to madness
of this order, one atrocity compelling us
to another, where
one identity
only is permitted
I notice the Jewish Leadership Council is quick to blame it on the PSC inciting this rather than the Genocide itself inciting it – although to be fair, Phil Rosenberg in a statement in April predicted the Genocide would result in such as this
The ruling class, their mass media and sycophantic politicians will use this event to blot out and morally condemn the antigenocide campaigns. Joining in with the stage-managed hullabaloo will be large numbers of antisemites in the Tory and Reform parties, hence total hypocrisy. Meanwhile the colossal mass action in Italy will go totally unreported, likewise the illegal and cynical Zionist attacks on the Gaza flotilla.
It’s So Sad to see Good People Being killed While going to Their Place of Worship
On The Holiest Day of the Jewish Calander Yom Kippur
On Belhalf of my Family and Myself.We offer you and all Jewish People our Deepest Sympathy and Prayers 🙏🤲 at this Sad Time.
To those who Died May They All Rest in Eternal Peace in the Arms of God .
We offer also Our Deepest sympathy to their Families and Friends And we 🙏 🙏 For Those that were Injured and Their Loving Families. And we Pray also 🙏 That their Loved Ones will all make a Full Recovery And that they Will Be Reunited With Them Soon
Our Thoughts and Prayers 🙏 are with you all at this Sad Time..
I am appalled and saddened by the Manchester synagogue attack and all the deaths that resulted.
This puts back the movement for justice and peace in Palestine and allows Israeli prime minister Netanyahu to make even more hateful statements
My condolences to the bereaved of Manchester.
My sympathies and condolences go to all the Jewish community who will be in shock and grieving.
We now know the identity of the attacke,r that he had Syrian Parentage and that others have been arrested. As to speculation on motives. My thought is we should wait and see what emerges from the arrests. We also have now been told that at least one of the deaths of the congregants was by a police bullet and another was injured as well as the attacker being killed. This sounds more like a Pheasant shoot than a Police Marksman taking a careful aim and needs an urgent and extensive enquiry.
The actions over the years of the State of Israel have created a climate of fear and hatred in much of the rest of the world. Many things have been done to non-Israelis which are not in any way legal and cannot be justified by reference to Old Testament sagas. The world, most of it, has moved on from that, but oppression remains widespread. Unjustified though they may be, events like this Manchester one are bound to happen untll such time as the world cleans up its act and there is peace and justice for everyone.