The Times of Israel is liveblogging Friday’s events as they unfold.
Palestinian envoy to UK condemns Yom Kippur attack on Manchester synagogue
Palestinian Ambassador to the UK Husam Zomlot condemns the deadly attack on Jewish worshippers outside a synagogue in Manchester, which took place on Yom Kippur.
“No one should ever feel unsafe in their home or at their place of worship,” Zomlot tweets.
“My deepest condolences go to the victims and families of today’s heinous attack in Manchester.”
“Violence against civilians must be condemned without hesitation or exception. We stand firm in upholding the rule of law everywhere, rejecting dehumanization, and affirming the equal humanity of all,” the Palestinian envoy adds.
Frenchwoman who escaped Nazi massacre dies aged 100
Camille Senon, a feminist and union activist who narrowly escaped the Nazi massacre in her French village of Oradour-sur-Glane died on Thursday aged 100, the mayor’s office says.
Senon was a young woman when the Third Reich’s elite SS unit marched into Oradour on June 10, 1944, killing 642 villagers, including all of her family.
“I was working in Limoges, but I would return to Oradour at the weekend. That day I took the tramway as usual, and we quickly saw the black smoke in the distance,” Senon told AFP in 2017.
“They kept us several hours, explaining to us what they had done to Oradour and letting us believe that maybe they would kill us too,” she recounted.
Très triste d’apprendre, le décès de Camille Senon, dernière rescapée du tramway d’Oradour-sur-Glane, et icône du syndicalisme à la Cgt. pic.twitter.com/ADxtRDEHPs
— Franck Petit (@f3_franckpetit) October 2, 2025
“What I saw next is hard to speak of. There was not a soul left alive.”
Most of the victims were women and children.
After the defeat of Nazi Germany and the liberation of France, Senon joined the CGT union and the Communist Party.
She rose up the male-dominated ranks of the trade union movement to head one of the CGT’s most important women’s sections in Paris.
Throughout her life, Senon, who styled herself as an “eternal rebel”, never gave up fighting for women’s rights.
“When I started working, you have to imagine… women still had to ask their boss for permission to get married! Misogyny and everyday sexism were everywhere, including in trade unions,” said Senon, who celebrated her 100th birthday in June.
In 2014, she ran for municipal elections in Limoges on a left-wing ticket and protested against a visit to the city by Dieudonne, a comic and controversialist convicted for hate speech, antisemitism and advocating terrorism.
Two years later, she refused France’s National Order of Merit, saying she did not want to “renounce my entire life of activism for greater justice and solidarity, freedom, fraternity and peace.”
“It’s important to remind young people not to compromise their values and to remain optimistic, whatever the circumstances,” she said.
“Because even if the world we are facing is worrying, life has shown me that it is never time to despair.”
Police use tear gas and water cannons on Gaza protest in Geneva
Police sprayed tear gas on protesters in Geneva, Switzerland on Thursday evening who were marching in support of the Gaza flotilla, eyewitnesses tell Reuters, which the police confirmed.
“We were retreating and suddenly got heavily gassed,” a eye witness tells Reuters, describing a burning sensation in their eyes and difficult breathing.
Israel’s interception of the flotilla sparked protests in Geneva and Bern, as well as in Italy and Colombia on Thursday.
A photo shared with Reuters by a eyewitness in Geneva shows a large plume of white smoke coming from a street filled with protesters, which they described as tear gas.
Tear gas,water cannons trucks. it was peaceful and ended ugly..shame .. there was no reason for what happened..they could have used microphones to disperse people.. no one knew what was happening.. they caged people from all side.Geneva came out in solidarity with Gaza 02.10.2025 pic.twitter.com/0NoOoQyEE3
— Dr. Hana S. El-Gallal د. هناء القلال (@hacare) October 2, 2025
A second eyewitness tells Reuters that they saw a large white vehicle spray water on the front line of protesters, which a video shared by the Swiss national broadcaster RTS also showed.
Alexandre Brahier, spokesperson for the Geneva police says that around 3,000 people, mostly adults and young men had joined the protest.
“We had to use control measures including tear gas and water cannons,” he says, adding that protesters were not carrying dangerous arms but were “throwing things”, causing some damage to property spraying graffiti.
Such confrontations are rare for Switzerland although pro-Gaza protests have been gathering momentum in recent weeks.
“Large protests are to be expected in big cities but it’s not every day that we need to resort to control measures like this,” Brahier adds.
Mobile phone footage shared with Reuters shows flares being thrown amidst the crowd, as hundreds of people moving down a crammed street in central Geneva.
1 vessel from Gaza aid flotilla appears to still be sailing toward Strip after navy interception
One vessel from the flotilla that attempted to break the Israeli maritime blockade on the Gaza Strip is still sailing, according to tracking data and a live stream.
The Marinette apparently had mechanical issues and lagged behind the main armada of over 40 ships, all of which were intercepted and taken over by the Israeli Navy.
According to Global Sumud Flotilla, the Marinette is currently some 80 nautical miles from Gaza.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry warned earlier that if the last ship approaches Gaza, “its attempt to enter an active combat zone and breach the blockade will also be prevented.”
UK chief rabbi after Yom Kippur synagogue attack: ‘This is day we knew would come’
Following the deadly terror attack at a Manchester synagogue that killed two and injured four during Yom Kippur services, British Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis says the toxic environment of Jew hatred in the country made such an event all but inevitable.
“This is the day we hoped we would never see, but which deep down, we knew would come,” Mirvis posts on X. “For so long we have witnessed an unrelenting wave of Jew hatred on our streets, on campuses, on social media and elsewhere – this is the tragic result. This is not only an assault on the Jewish community, but an attack on the very foundations of humanity and the values of compassion, dignity and respect which we all share.”
Mirvis says he spoke with Rabbi Daniel Walker, the spiritual leader of the Heaton Park Synagogue, who was hailed by witnesses as a hero for barricading the doors to the synagogue to stop the attacker from getting inside the sanctuary.
“His courageous leadership, together with the resilience of his congregation, are an inspiration to us all,” Mirvis writes.
“May the victims’ memories be for a blessing and may the injured be granted a swift recovery,” Mirvis concludes. “I pray that this tragedy strengthens our collective resolve to confront antisemitism, in all its guises, once and for all.”
Our hearts are shattered.
Emerging from the holy fast of Yom Kippur, British Jews are now grasping the full extent of today’s terror attack at the Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester.
This is the day we hoped we would never see, but which deep down, we knew would come.
For…
— Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis (@chiefrabbi) October 2, 2025
Organizers spurn UK police’s plea to shelve anti-Israel rally after synagogue attack
Organizers of a protest against the UK’s ban on the Palestine Action group have rejected London police’s plea to shelve their rally in the wake of a deadly attack on a Manchester synagogue over Yom Kippur, The Guardian reports.
Postponing the planned Saturday rally would allow law enforcement to focus on protecting Jewish and Muslim communities in wake of the attack, police said in their letter to the organizers.
But organizers nevertheless reject the police’s request and say they will go ahead with the weekend demonstration, which is expected to draw a massive crowd.
In a letter to the Metropolitan police, the organizing group Defend Our Juries reportedly urges officers to “prioritize protecting the community rather than arresting those peacefully holding signs in opposition to the absurd and draconian ban of a domestic direct action group.”
While condemning the Manchester synagogue attack that left two dead and four seriously injured, the activist group insists that it is up to law enforcement whether it wants to dispatch police to secure the protest.
“It appears the political oversight in proscribing Palestine Action, which aimed to save lives in Palestine, is taking away from the police protecting the community from those who seek to take lives,” their letter continues, as quoted by UK outlets.
Worshiper at Manchester synagogue says congregants ensured doors and windows were shut before attack
A worshiper at the Manchester synagogue recounts being inside the Jewish house of worship for Yom Kippur services when it was attacked by a terrorist.
“We’d already made sure that the doors and windows were shut,” Rob Kanter tells the Guardian, adding that after they heard gunshots, police entered the synagogue to escort the congregation to safety.
According to Kanter, his first reaction upon hearing the shots was “how are we going to keep ourselves and everyone else safe?” Despite initially feeling “bewildered” as they heard the attack outside, he says the atmosphere inside the synagogue was “actually relatively calm.”
“I would say the mood amongst our fellow congregants was very calm, and everyone deals with these things in their own way,” Kanter adds. “Some people get through this in a very quiet way, others like to talk, some people even try and use an element of humor just to keep themselves going.”
He also says the rabbi tried to continue the service after worshipers were led away from the shul by police, “because at the end of the day, because it’s awkward, and it’s difficult, people have got a multitude of emotions going on, but we carried on, and did not [perform] the whole service, but we did what we could in the circumstances.”