Manchester's Jewish community 'shocked but not surprised'

Members of the Jewish community have said they are "shocked but not surprised" following the attack at a synagogue in Manchester.

Two people died and three others are in hospital after a man drove a car at members of the public before stabbing people outside Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Crumpsall on Thursday morning.

Police named the victims as Adrian Daulby, 53, and 66-year-old Melvin Cravitz. They later revealed one of the men was hit by police gunfire as officers shot the attacker.

Nathan Kedem, who lives in the area, said he was "not exactly surprised" by the attack, and added: "It was a difficult night last night, I barely managed to sleep. It brought it all to the doorstep."

He and his family moved to the UK from Israel 20 years ago for security reasons. "I am really confused now - where is it safe?" he said.

Mr Kedem used to volunteer for the Community Securities Trust, helping with security for his children's school when they were younger.

"When you stand on the corner of the street it does come to your mind, it's only a matter of someone deciding to take action in a fraction of a second and there's nothing you can do."

Follow live: One of victims killed in Manchester synagogue attack was hit by police gunfire, chief constable says

Mr Kedem said: "Even 20 years ago there were hints here and there of antisemitism, and especially in the last couple of years.

"Just two months ago taking a taxi to the airport the driver made quite a few anti-Jewish comments which quite shocked us, not realising we were Jewish."

Anna, whose husband is a community rabbi in St Anne's and who attended the vigil in Crumpsall with her children on Friday afternoon, echoed Mr Kadem's sentiments saying she was "shocked but not surprised".

"You could feel the tension in the air building since October 2023, it's almost something that's been waiting to happen," she said.

"Because the Jewish population is small in size we feel like a family, and someone has hurt us.

"We need to increase our positive actions and hopefully the government will do something about the rising antisemitism.

"I know people are feeling like it's like pre-1930s Nazi Germany here and I am starting to feel that way myself."

A man also at the vigil said: "This was bound to happen, it was waiting to happen – I didn't think it would happen on my doorstep but it was waiting to happen."

Others in attendance spoke about the strength of the community, where people of all different races and religions live alongside each other.

One man said: "On my road there are people of every nationality, every race, and we all get on. We're not idiots. If something bad happens the community will turn out, it's a great community round here."

A woman added: " It doesn't matter what religion you are, what's wrong is wrong. It shouldn't have happened, loss of life is just really unfair. We're here to show our support and our love to everyone that's here today."

Sam, an Orthodox Jewish man living behind the synagogue, said he felt "shock and horror but not surprise".

"The way things have been going recently, we have been targeted just for looking Jewish," he said.

"We have had people shouting at us from their cars, things like 'Jew' or 'Free Palestine', or just shouting to make us jump. At the moment we are scared."

He said he recognised Melvin Cravitz when he saw the news reported.

"We used to see him around the neighbourhood and he would stop and chat, he was a very gentle, nice man."

David Eklouby, an Orthodox Jewish man who also lives close by and who is part of a security group based in Broughton, said: "To be honest with you I do feel safe, but that's only because we have a lot of support from our neighbours around us."

A Jewish woman and a Catholic woman held hands as they visited St Anne's Catholic Church in Crumpsall earlier.

Esther Seymour, a Jewish woman, who went to the church with her friend Celeste Cavanagh, a Catholic, said seeing so many people of different faiths attend "warmed her heart". Esther's son has been dating Celeste's daughter, who is a member of the church congregation.

Esther told BBC Radio Manchester: "It feels like a lot of people are against Jewish people, and it just felt really nice coming here and seeing so many people of other faiths.

"I've seen Muslim people here which is so nice, I feel so bad for how they must be feeling as well, I really do, because we all want peace, we're cousins according to the religion.

"The majority of people want to be together, we want to be in peace, we want to live side by side."

Celeste said: "We turn to faith when things like this happen, and I wanted to obviously meet Esther here to light candles and show that we are standing side by side.

"54 years this has been my church, 54 years I have lived in Crumpsall, and we have lived side by side with other cultures for all them years, and we can't allow this to be destroyed.

Esther said she cried after seeing people of all faiths turn up at the church.

"Most people care, we don't always hear it, some people are sometimes scared to say it that we care, because nobody knows what's the right thing to do our say, but just coming here shows people do."

Zippi, who lives near to the synagogue on Middleton Road, told BBC Radio 5 Live she and her children regularly walk down the road nearby to visit family on Friday nights.

She said they "don't feel welcome" in the area, and that she will now "rethink whether there's a future for us as a family".

"My five-year-old asked me yesterday, when we had four helicopters above our heads all day, he said 'is this what happens every Yom Kippur?' I said no, this isn't normal," she said.

"You have to try and explain to them that this isn't the norm and this isn't the way we should be living."

Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis told the BBC "right now, our hearts are shattered".

This is a very dark time, not just for Jews of Britain but for all of our society because this wasn't merely an attack against Jews, it was an attack against the values of our society," he said.