In October last year, an Islamist terrorist drove a car into a synagogue in Heaton Moor, Manchester, before stabbing worshippers on Yom Kippur, leaving two men dead. This February, three men were convicted over a foiled IS-inspired terror plot to massacre Jews in Manchester.
The events in Golders Green this week, where two men were stabbed in an area home to a large Jewish community, are the latest in a line of attacks. A 45-year-old man has been charged with attempted murder.
Jewish people now suffer the highest rate per capita of religious hate crime in England and Wales. John Mann, the government’s independent adviser on antisemitism, said many in the community are at “breaking point” and feel the UK is no longer a safe place for them to live.
Dave Rich, director of policy at the Community Security Trust, said: “Antisemitism in the day-to-day boring stuff that never makes the news has become utterly normalised in the Jewish experience in this country.” He noted that there is a growing frustration that not enough effective action is being taken.
Some British Jews hide or remove symbols that might identify them as Jews, while others are too scared to go to particular areas, with a growing number contemplating leaving the country.
