Yoni Finlay, who was shot during the attack on Heaton Park Synagogue, has said his son has since faced death threats and that “things don’t feel safer”, almost a year on from the attack.
Attack on Yom Kippur
35-year-old Jihad al-Shamie drove his vehicle into pedestrians and began stabbing attendees outside the Synagogue on Middleton Road on the morning of October 2 last year, on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
Within minutes a huge emergency response was on the scene and worshipper Yoni Finlay was hit by a police bullet as he helped to barricade the doors as Jihad Al-Shamie attempted to access the site.
Along with three others, Mr Finlay was seriously injured in the attack. Melvin Cravitz, 66, died from multiple knife wounds inflicted by Al-Shamie, while Adrian Daulby, 53, was struck by a single gunshot wound to the chest fired by an armed police officer as he held the door shut.
Death threats and hidden identity
A pre-inquest review hearing earlier this year heard that Mr Finlay was seriously injured by the same bullet that passed through the door and took Mr Daulby’s life.
Ahead of a memorial service for the victims and survivors which is due to take place this evening (August 31), Mr Finlay said the past year 'had not been easy' and that his son had received death threats.
Asked how the Jewish community is feeling almost a year on, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I don’t think things feel safer, I think we certainly live behind ever increasing gates, more security than we’ve ever had.”
Mr Finlay said that while “more” is being done to protect the Jewish community, “any event that we attend within the community, the address is never displayed on the poster”.
He added: “Jewish people are having to hide their identity, even my own son, who’s in college at the moment, has faced death threats.”
Growing sense of vulnerability
Rabbi Daniel Walker, from the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation, told the BBC that “we’re actually almost in a harder position than we were even immediately after the attack”.
He added: “I think the sense of vulnerability has grown. It hasn’t diminished.”
For the Heaton Park congregation, Rabbi Walker said a "year of difficulty and of grief and of pain" had been made even harder by the attacks elsewhere.
"Something has gone seriously wrong in our society," he said. "I think we're dealing with symptoms. We're extremely grateful for the increased security, but I don't think there's really any evidence of anyone dealing with the core problems.
"And on the contrary, in many ways, those may have become worse over the last months."
