MANSHETER, UK (AP) – Police on Friday identified two men killed in the Car and knife attacks against synagogue Just as the British chief rabbis said that “relent waves” of anti-Semitism were behind crimes in the northwest of England on the holiest day of the year of the Jews.
Greater Manchester police said local residents Adrian Doorby, 53, and 66-year-old Melvin Kravitz were killed in an attack on the synagogue of the Heaton Park congregation on the outskirts of Manchester in Crampsall. Three other people are hospitalized in serious condition.
police Shot and kill the suspect Seven minutes after he plunged his car into a pedestrian outside the synagogue on Thursday morning and attacked them with a knife. He wore what appears to be an explosive belt, but it turns out to be a fake.
The attack occurred when people gathered at an orthodox synagogue. Yom Kippurtone sin day and the strictest day in the Jewish calendar.
Chief of British Orthodox Judaism, Rabbi Ephraim Milvis, said the attack was the result of “a wave of merciless Jewish hatred” on the streets and online.
“This is a day we wanted to never see, but deeper and we knew it was coming,” he wrote on social media.
The attacker was identified by police as Jihad Al Shami, a 35-year-old British citizen who entered the UK in 2006 and entered the UK in 2006. Authorities are unclear whether it was his birth name.
Police said the crime is being investigated as a terrorist attack. Interior Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the attackers were unknown to police and prevention, a nationwide terrorist program that seeks to identify people at risk of radicalization.
Police said they are still investigating the motives of the attackers. Officers arrested three people Thursday on suspicion of preparation for terrorist acts or committee. They are two men in their 30s and a woman in their 60s.
Religious and political leaders condemned the attack and committed to reassuring the British Jewish community.
The recorded anti-Semitism incident in the UK has since risen sharply. Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023 Israel and Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza, according to Community Security Trust, a British Jewish advocacy group. Over 1,500 incidents were reported in the first half of the first half. This is the second highest six-month total since the previous year’s record was set.
prime minister Keyer priority He condemned the “despicable” assailants who “attacked the Jews because they were Jews.” He promised the British Jews that he would do “all of my strength to assure you that you are the security you deserve.”
He said, “We’ll wrap our arms around your community and we’ll gather together to show you that you and your family are safe, secure and where they belong.
Some politicians and religious leaders argued that the pro-Palestinian demonstrations, which have been held regularly since the start of the war in Gaza, have played a role in spreading hatred towards Jews. Some say chants like “From the river to the sea, Palestine is free” sparks violence.
Rabbin chief Mirvis urged the authorities, “We’ll grasp these demonstrations. They’re dangerous.”
“We can’t separate our words on the streets, our actions in this way, and what inevitably arises from yesterday’s terrorist attacks,” he told the BBC.
Interior Secretary Mahmoud said 40 people were arrested in protests organized in response to the Israeli Navy attack on Thursday evening, unrelated to the synagogue attack. Fleet intercept They are trying to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza.
London police urged organizers to halt the protest planned on Saturday and opposed the ban on group Palestinian actions. Organizers said they would not cancel the demonstration.
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Associated Press Writer Jill Lawless from London contributed to this report.
