by Robert Largan, The Critic
Image: Wikimedia Creative Commons
The attack on Manchester’s Jewish community, one year ago, should never have happened
Given the news that yet another “fairly imminent” terrorist plot targeting Manchester’s Jewish community has been foiled, it seems important to look back on the events of last October when Syrian-born Jihad Al-Shamie carried out a terror attack at Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Manchester, which left two dead and three injured.
It’s an area I know well. I grew up nearby, amongst the Jewish community of North Manchester. Friends of mine go to that synagogue. When I saw the news break, my reaction was one of horror — horror but not surprise. The whole thing had an air of inevitability about it.
Nearly two years before Al-Shamie’s rampage in North Manchester, large numbers of people in Britain took to the streets in the immediate aftermath of the October 7 massacre, and not to condemn Hamas but to condemn Israel. Some even gloated about the attacks.
You would think that such a moment would lead to deep existential reflection on how we have brought ourselves to this point. Transparently, things have gone catastrophically wrong in our multi-faith multi-racial society, which we like to boast is the most successful in the world. But such a reflection would require deeply uncomfortable conversations about the wisdom and efficacy of our migration and integration policies over the last 30 years.
Instead, we’ve seen an endless escalation of incitement. Constant victim blaming. Glamorisation of violent Islamist organisations. Brazen antisemitism. Open calls for Jihad.