Coalition for Jewish Values, representing over 2,500 traditional, Orthodox rabbis in public policy, reacted with condemnation, but not surprise, after the murderous attack upon worshippers at Manchester’s Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation on Yom Kippur. On the holiest day of the Jewish year, Rabbi Daniel Walker’s sacred white kittel garment—symbol of purity and prayer—was stained with the blood of his congregants. This was not merely an attack on lives, but on the sanctity of our faith.
We second Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis’ assertion that this attack stems directly from the “unrelenting wave of Jew hatred on our streets, on campuses, on social media and elsewhere.” Further, we identify the current government and its media as having directly legitimized the antisemitic lies that inspire the murder of Jews on British soil and emboldened perpetrators.
The Chairman of CJV International, Manchester resident Rabbi Jonathan Guttentag, commented that “such atrocities do not arise in a vacuum. When hate marches are allowed to dominate Britain’s streets week after week, and when terror is rewarded with political recognition, extremists draw strength and Jews are left exposed.”
Enjoy what you're reading? Subscribe for more!
The government has acted only to appease a new generation of Nazis intent on the destruction of the Jewish people. It repeatedly accused Israel falsely of targeting Gazan civilians, indulged baseless narratives about “genocide” in Gaza, and, finally, recognized a “Palestine,” claiming that part of the homeland of the Jewish people rightly belongs to Arab invaders, at a time when every “Palestinian” government supports terrorism. It took this action although both the Israeli and Arab sides said that the UK government action would reward terrorism and encourage more of the same.
Now that this gruesome prediction has been realized, we demand more than performative condemnations of the violence and immediate, necessary steps to protect Jewish institutions. We call on the British government to take tangible and overdue steps to punish extremist violence, and to reject the bigoted rhetoric that drives it, including from voices within its party.
We extend our prayers and support to the victims, their families, and the Jewish community in Manchester and beyond. We share their grief, and we stand resolutely with every Jew who fears for his or her future in an increasingly hostile Britain.