Manchester attack: police deployed to Yorkshire synagogues after suspected terrorism
More police are being deployed to synagogues across Yorkshire after the fatal Manchester attack which was described by a rabbi as “every Jewish person’s worst nightmare”.
Two people have died and a man has been shot by armed police after a car was driven at pedestrians and a person was stabbed in a suspected terror attack outside a synagogue on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur.
Greater Manchester Police said three others are in a serious condition following the attack outside Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue, on Middleton Road in Crumpsall this morning.
Sir Keir Starmer said he was “absolutely shocked” by the incident and he confirmed “additional police assets” are being rolled out to synagogues.
The Prime Minister, who is returning early from a summit in Copenhagen following the attack, vowed the Government will “do everything to keep our Jewish community safe”.
He said: “I am on my way back to London. When I arrive, I will chair an emergency Cobra meeting. I’m already able to say that additional police assets are being deployed to synagogues across the country, and we will do everything to keep our Jewish community safe.”
West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin confirmed there would be heightened security at synagogues in Leeds, which has the largest Jewish population in Yorkshire.
Ms Brabin said: “I am appalled by the attack at a synagogue in Manchester. My thoughts are with those affected.
“On this holy day, our thoughts are with the Jewish community here and across the UK.
“In West Yorkshire, police have deployed additional resources to Jewish communities and synagogues.”
Fabian Hamilton, one of the longest serving Jewish MPs in the House of Commons who represents Leeds North East, said he had held a meeting with West Yorkshire Police over safety arrangements.
The Labour MP said: “I’m absolutely horrified by the reports this morning of an attack on the Jewish community at a synagogue in Manchester.
“This cowardly attack, especially on Yom Kippur, is evil and disgusting. My thoughts are with all of those affected by this tragedy.
“It’s essential that the Government takes immediate steps to safeguard the security of synagogues and places of Jewish worship across the country in light of this attack.
“Anti-Semitism must never prevail and this shocking incident is a clear indication of where it can lead.
“I’m making urgent representations to West Yorkshire Police to ensure the safety of synagogues in our community.”
GMP confirmed a bomb disposal unit was sent to the scene outside the Heaton Park synagogue after footage shared on social media appeared to show members of the public shouting to firearms officers that the suspect had a bomb strapped to him.
Police said the suspect is believed to be dead after shots were fired by armed police at 9.38am – but the force said that “cannot currently be confirmed due to safety issues surround suspicious items on his person”.
A picture of the alleged attacker, circulating online, showed a man with a beard and dark clothing standing outside the synagogue with unidentified objects strapped to his waist. He can also be seen holding something in his hand.
The force said it had “declared Plato” – the national codeword used by police and emergency services when responding to a “marauding terror attack”.
A rabbi and head of the Rabbinic Court of Great Britain said fears which had already existed in the Jewish community due to heightened tensions in recent years following the October 7 Hamas attacks and Israel’s military action in Gaza, will now be further increased.
Rabbi Jonathan Romain, emeritus rabbi of Maidenhead Synagogue, said he felt “appalled” by the attack in Manchester.
He said: “This is every Rabbi’s or every Jewish person’s worst nightmare.
“Not only is this a sacred day, the most sacred in the Jewish calendar, but it’s also a time of mass gathering, and the time when the Jewish community, however religious or irreligious, gathers together.”
He said it appears tensions over the war in Gaza had “spilled over” to the UK, despite efforts to stop that happening.
He said: “The real tragedy is, of course that the war in Gaza, which is tragic in itself, has sort of spilled over into the United Kingdom.
“For the last two years, we were desperately trying to make sure that whatever was going on in the Middle East was not imported here. This has shown that our worst fears have been realised.
“This will obviously heighten the fears that many Jews have had, that political violence would spill over into religious hatred.”
A Jewish man, among a group of shocked onlookers at the cordon outside the synagogue, said: “It is the holiest day of the year and we get this. There is no place for Jews in Britain anymore. It’s over.”
Earlier this year, the Community Security Trust (CST), which monitors antisemitism in the UK, said Jews were facing “more hatred and pressure” than they have for decades after the organisation recorded more than 3,500 incidents in 2024.
Reports of antisemitism reached a record high in 2023 at 4,296 – the year that saw the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel and the subsequent military action in the region that has continued since.
A more recent report by the CST showed there were 1,521 antisemitic incidents across the UK in the first half of 2025.
This was the second highest total ever reported to the organisation in the first six months of any year, but it was down by a quarter from the record high of 2,019 incidents recorded between January and June 2024.