The Manchester synagogue attack

On Thursday, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, we witnessed the most overt demonstration of the return of antisemitism to a country whose massacre of its Jewish population 835 years ago saw the first use of the term ‘holocaust’.

The circumstances leading up to the terror attack are still unclear, but what is not in doubt is the bravery of those who ran to bar the attacker’s entry into the synagogue, the lasting impact upon those injured or killed in the attack and their families, or the horror now being felt by our fellow citizens in the Jewish community at seeing their worst fears realised, and wondering what might follow in its wake.

I am not Jewish and I represent a constituency with one of the UK’s smaller Jewish populations, I cannot know what it feels like to be a British Jew in the aftermath of such an attack, all I can do is listen, as I have attempted to do over recent days.

Before the attack, I had already agreed to meet with the Campaign Against Antisemitism once recess had concluded and I am very open to meeting with other organisations to better understand the community’s fears and what actions might be possible to address them.

The first WhatsApp message I received in the wake of the attack was from a local Muslim community leader offering prayers for the bereaved, their families, and the wider Jewish community. It is compassion and love for mankind which sits at the heart of all major religions, while hatred and violence are condemned.

Nonetheless, there will be those who try to excuse the attack or object to the steps now needed to ensure that the Jewish community is kept safe, presenting a range of reasons.

To those people I would say this: it does not matter what your cause is, or how just you feel it is, acting as an aggressor to achieve a political goal will always put you in the wrong, whether that action is undertaken by an individual, an organisation, or a state, and no political ends sought in this way ever lasts.