by Nicole Lampert, Jewish News
Rabbi Daniel Walker of Heaton Park Synagogue reveals he received a warning weeks before the Islamist assault that left two worshippers dead and now has personal security guards
Manchester Rabbi Daniel Walker has revealed that he received a death threat a few weeks before his synagogue was attacked by an Islamist terrorist and now has security guards to keep him safe.
The rabbi spoke movingly about how he was ‘shocked but not surprised’ by the attack by last month.
Worshippers Adrian Daulby, 53, and Melvin Cravitz, 66, died after Jihad Al-Shamie smashed into the synagogue gates in his car and then started stabbing people while wearing a fake suicide vest.
Mr Daulby is thought to have been inadvertently shot dead by armed police as they tried to stop Al-Shamie.
‘I didn’t really think something like this could happen,’ said Rabbi Walker who was speaking on a panel alongside former Prime Minister Boris Johnson at a European Jewish Association conference on antisemitism in Krakow, Poland. ‘But on the other hand, the reason why so many lives were saved that day is because of the security infrastructure in place because we were worried that it was going got happen.
‘I think we are all saying we were shocked. We weren’t surprised. We live behind gates. Our kids, our schools are behind gates. The security guards are everywhere. I personally have security guards at the moment because, yes, we are worried and we were worried.’