President Isaac Herzog on Thursday condemned the deadly terror attack at a Manchester synagogue, revealing that he had written to King Charles III just days earlier to warn him over rising antisemitism.
“The horrific scenes in Manchester today are utterly devastating. This vile act of terror against the Jewish community, against worshippers at prayer, on the holiest day of the year for Jews, is a crime which must be condemned by all,” Herzog said in a statement.
“Just a few days ago I wrote a letter to His Majesty King Charles III, stressing my deep worry and concern over the rise of antisemitism and anti-Israel hatred in the UK, and in other Commonwealth countries including Australia and Canada,” Herzog said.
“Today’s tragic events have sadly demonstrated how real and tangible this threat is, and how imperative it is to act against it with full force and without compromise,” Herzog said.
According to Sky News, Herzog warned King Charles that the UK, Australia and Canada were nations where “Jews no longer feel safe,” in the Monday letter.
“The nations which just 80 years ago stood united against fascism and Nazism have now become overrun with anti-Jewish hatred,” wrote the president.
“We know of course all too well that the rise in antisemitism correlates directly with the events on the ground in the Middle East — yet the free world cannot and must not allow the conflict to become a political tool against the Jewish people,” Herzog wrote.
The president also encouraged the British monarch to use his position of influence to speak out against antisemitism.
“Education, remembrance and measured leadership are vital tools in ensuring that hatred has no place in our societies,” he wrote.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the “barbaric attack” at a British synagogue, while Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar accused UK authorities of failing to curb rising antisemitism in the United Kingdom.
Hinting that the stance of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on the war in Gaza and the recent recognition of a Palestinian state contributed to the terror attack, Netanyahu wrote: “As I warned at the UN: weakness in the face of terrorism only brings more terrorism. Only strength and unity can defeat it.”
“Israel grieves with the Jewish community in the UK after the barbaric terror attack in Manchester,” Netanyahu said.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said the attack was a result of rising antisemitism across Britain.
“I am appalled by the murderous attack near the Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester on the morning of the holiest day for the Jewish people: Yom Kippur,” Sa’ar said on X.
“The truth must be told: blatant and rampant antisemitic and anti-Israeli incitement, as well as calls of support for terror, have recently become a widespread phenomenon in the streets of London, in cities across Britain, and on its campuses.”
“The authorities in Britain have failed to take the necessary action to curb this toxic wave of antisemitism and have effectively allowed it to persist,” he added, saying Israel expected “more than words from the Starmer government” in addressing the issue.
Meanwhile, former premier Naftali Bennett also bashed Starmer over the deadly Yom Kippur terror attack.
“When antisemitism is surging to levels not seen since the Holocaust, for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer it was instead urgent to recognize ‘a Palestinian state’ instead of focusing on his basic duty to defend Jewish citizens of Britain,” Bennett said in a statement.
Bennett, who is riding high in the polls, decried “the loss of a moral compass in Europe” and says that in many countries “there are negative repercussions toward the Jewish people.”
Two people were killed and four seriously injured when a man drove a car into people outside a packed synagogue in Manchester, northern England, on Thursday and then began stabbing them, in a terror attack on Yom Kippur.
Police shot and killed the suspect outside Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in the Crumpsall neighborhood.
Lazar Berman contributed to this report.