The horrific events in Manchester on Yom Kippur tell us that it is an understatement to say that Britain has an anti-Semitism problem. Britain is past that stage in its societal decline. Whether it is past the point of no return is an open question.
Yesterday, on the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, a man named Jihad carried out jihad at a synagogue in Manchester. Two were killed, one of whom appears to have been shot by police.
The almost universal reaction among British Jews was, as expressed by Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis: “This is the day we hoped we would never see, but which deep down, we knew would come.”
Indeed, British Jews had to mentally prepare for this day because the British government refused to physically prepare for it.
That is half the story. The other half is how a society responds to such an event. Two examples are noteworthy. First, Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has fed and watered the culture of Jew-hatred that led to yesterday’s attack. The only legitimate response from such a man would be to profusely apologize and then immediately work to reverse all the things he has done that encouraged his country’s escalating anti-Semitism.
Instead, Starmer said this: “Britain is also a country where Jewish buildings, synagogues, and even schools require round-the-clock protection. Where dedicated, specialist, security is necessary because of the daily threat of antisemitic hatred. Today’s horrific incident shows why.”
All true. And all an acknowledgement that Keir Starmer knew the threat Jews faced in his own country, and yet Jewish security continues to become more precarious by the day. What does it mean to “require round-the-clock protection”? With a sufficient understanding of the threat should come a sufficient defense against it. Where was the required protection on Yom Kippur in Manchester? It wasn’t there. And if it was there, then it certainly isn’t all that is required to keep Jews safe.
Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement. Jews take this atonement quite seriously. We cast aside material and physical comforts and spend the day pleading for forgiveness. We promise to change our ways.
For a deadly terrorist attack on a shul on Yom Kippur to happen on his watch, Keir Starmer should ask for forgiveness. He should atone. He should beat his breast while enumerating his sins, just as we do. He should think of nothing else but atonement. He has presided over a society that has broken its vows, and might be broken itself.
Starmer closed with this: “I promise you that over the coming days, you will see the other Britain—the Britain of compassion, of decency, of love. And I promise you that this Britain will come together to wrap our arms around your community and show you that Britain is a place where you and your family are safe, secure, and belong.”
And in the aftermath of the attack, did that “other” Britain emerge? Perhaps it will “over the coming days,” but the Britain that was in place on Yom Kippur was still there after it:
“Violent clashes broke out between pro-Palestinian protesters and police outside the gates of Downing Street last night just hours after a terror attack at a Manchester synagogue,” the Telegraph reported. “Thousands of people waving Palestinian flags gathered in central London on the same day two Jewish worshippers were killed and three others injured in the car and knife attack.”
It is no excuse to claim that this was a preplanned protest, for two reasons. First, who plans a protest against Jews on Yom Kippur? Evil people. Second, who participates in an anti-Jewish street mob after a likeminded person answered the calls to globalize the intifada and stormed a Jewish sanctuary to commit murder in cold blood? Evil squared? Evil plus?
You see the problem. We have exhausted the English vocabulary. We have seen British society spew forth a wave of evil that goes beyond what we normally describe as “evil.”
At a Liverpool Street station, crowds gathered chanting various versions of “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a call for more violence against Jews.
Pro-Hamas chaos erupted outside 10 Dowing Street. “It is getting a bit violent,” an LBC correspondent on the scene tells viewers, just after the mob broke through a police line.
Which Britain is this, Sir Keir? Perhaps there’s only one Britain after all. And Keir Starmer is presiding over its rapid decline.
