Rabbi warns of ‘groundswell of anger’ after synagogue attack victim funeral held

A Manchester Rabbi has said there is a ‘groundswell of anger’ among the Jewish community after the synagogue terror attack in the city.

Adrian Daulby, 53, and Melvin Cravitz, 66, died after Jihad Al-Shamie drove into a group of people and stabbed a man at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue.

Rabbi Danny Bergson, who went to school with ‘hero’ Rabbi David Walker, was among the hundreds to attend Melvin’s funeral today.

Many braved the rain to stand outside the prayer hall to listen to the proceedings and the eulogy over loudspeakers.

Speaking to Metro following the ‘heartbreaking’ funeral, Rabbi Bergson said Jewish people were ‘shocked, but not surprised’ at the violence that took place on Thursday, after two years of mounting antisemitism since October 7.

He said: ‘There is a groundswell of outrage and anger towards national leadership.

‘We are a very polite community, we contribute to society, because Britain is home.

‘For the Jewish community to have raised its concerns for two years and for it to have ended with the death of two people has left many Jewish people feeling much, much more unsafe than they were already feeling.’

Hundreds of people also joined a ‘Manchester stands with Israel’ rally on Sunday to honour the lives that were taken in the October 7 attack, while also commemorating the victims of Thursday’s rampage.

During Sunday’s rally, Israel’s deputy minister of foreign affairs, Sharron Haskel, told the crowd that she ‘does not feel safe’ as a Jew in the UK and was wearing a bulletproof vest.

Bergson said the rally was a call for ‘the government to challenge the two years of antisemitism and hatred has been allowed to fester.’

A vigil for the victims on Friday saw the Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy heckled with shouts of ‘shame on you’

Bergson, who has led St Annes Hebrew Congregation in Lancashire since 2018 and lives close to Heaton Park, said this reaction was a reflection of ‘the internal mood of the Jewish community.’

He added: ‘The fact that it wasn’t everybody doing it is a reflection of how polite the Jewish community is.

‘The Jewish community feels very, very insecure, but not beaten or cowed.’

Al-Shamie, 35, is understood to have slammed his Kia into a man at the synagogue entrance as people gathered for prayers on the holiest day of the year in Judaism, Yom Kippur.

Strapped with a fake suicide belt, witnesses said he began stabbing the window in a desperate attempt to get inside, but was prevented from doing so by the Rabbi, worshippers and security of the synagogue.

One of the victims was shot as police opened fire on Al-Shamie, the force said.

He was also heard by one of the worshippers barring the door to shout ‘this is what they get for killing our children’ as he tried to force his way into the synagogue.

On Saturday, the force said three men remain in hospital with serious injuries, including a security guard with car-impact injuries and a Community Security Trust (CST) worker with stab wounds.

Sources say Al-Shamie was on police bail for an alleged rape when he carried out the attack.

Bergson, who is a member of the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester & Region, said his synagogue had been flooded with flowers and letters since the attack.

One letter he read to Metro was handwritten from a 12-year-old girl.

It read: ‘Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with you at this difficult time. Although I am not Jewish myself, we are all God’s people. From a friend age 12.’

Extra security has been deployed across Manchester following the attack, while synagogues across the nation have also added extra security.

Rabbi Bergson says St Annes Hebrew Congregation has been very assured by the Lancashire Police that they will be protected by further violence, but that members of his synagogue are still anxious.

‘There is nervousness,’ he explained.

‘We are in a limbo stage where we feel that quite a few members feel that the security needs to be stepped up and we’re not there yet.’

Nonetheless, Bergson stressed that Jewish people remain ‘defiant and resilient to continue celebrating our Judaism despite any threats’.

He added: ‘The message for the society at large is to realise that the hatred that begins with Jews doesn’t end with Jews.’

After the attack on Thursday, six people were on suspicion of commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism.

Counter Terrorism Policing said on Saturday that the 18-year-old woman and a 43-year-old man were released with no further action.

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