Synagogue Attack Rocks the United Kingdom 

Two people were killed and at least three others wounded Thursday after a man drove a car into pedestrians and began stabbing people outside a synagogue in Manchester, an attack that took place during Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, the Associated Press reported. 

Police said the attack took place outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Crumpsall, where worshipers gathered inside to celebrate Yom Kippur. 

Witnesses said the attacker rammed the synagogue gates before emerging with a knife and striking people nearby, including a security guard, while attempting to enter the synagogue. 

Armed officers arrived within minutes and shot a man believed to be the assailant. Police said they believed the suspect died but withheld confirmation until bomb-disposal teams had searched the scene, citing reports he may have been carrying an explosive device. 

Following the attack, authorities invoked “Plato,” the national protocol for responding to “marauding terror attacks.”  

British officials condemned the attack as one of the most serious in years against the country’s Jewish community. 

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer – who was returning early from a European summit in Denmark – called it “horrific,” particularly because it took place on Yom Kippur. King Charles III and Queen Camilla said they were “deeply shocked and saddened,” while British Rabbi Jonathan Romain said the incident would intensify fears of rising antisemitism. 

While mass attacks are not common in the United Kingdom, Thursday’s assault is seen as a part of a wave of antisemitic incidents across Europe since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, the Wall Street Journal wrote. 

It was also the latest mass attack in Manchester, where a 2017 suicide bombing at an Ariana Grande concert killed 22 people. 

Jewish advocacy group Community Security Trust has reported more than 1,500 antisemitic incidents in the UK during the first half of this year, the second-highest total on record. 

Meanwhile, police data showed that Islamophobic incidents have also increased in the UK, with two in five reported hate crimes last year targeting Muslims.