The British Jewish community was united on Thursday, October 2: What happened early that morning at Heaton Park synagogue, in northern Manchester, was exactly what they had feared for some time. A man attacked members of the local Jewish congregation who had gathered to pray on Yom Kippur – the holiest day in the Jewish calendar – first with a car, then with a knife.

Local police intervened almost immediately and shot the assailant dead, but the attack, quickly categorized as terrorism by authorities, left two people dead and four others in critical condition. Two arrests were made following the attack, though no further details were provided. As for the suspected assailant, police released his identity Thursday evening: He is Jihad Al-Shamie, a 35-year-old British citizen of Syrian origin.

King Charles III and Queen Camilla said they were "deeply shocked and saddened." Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who returned early from Copenhagen, where a European Political Community summit was underway, called the attack "horrific" and immediately announced increased police protection around synagogues and in neighborhoods with large Jewish populations – estimated at around 300,000 people in the United Kingdom, including about 30,000 in the Manchester area in northwest England. Later that day, after a COBRA national security meeting, the Labour leader condemned a "vile" attack that targeted "Jews because they are Jews," and promised to do "everything in [his] power" to provide them with the security "they deserve" and to "defeat" the rise of anti-Semitic hatred.

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