Labour Heartlands Editorial
The attack on a Manchester synagogue that left three people dead, including the attacker, and others seriously injured, represents an appalling act of antisemitic violence. Every person committed to human dignity must stand unequivocally with Jewish communities across Britain in the aftermath of this horror.
While the attacker’s precise motivations may emerge through investigation, the context cannot be ignored. Antisemitic incidents have risen sharply over the past two years, coinciding with Israel’s military operations in Gaza. This makes it essential to state clearly: Jewish individuals and community organisations in Britain bear absolutely no responsibility for the actions of any government, including Israel’s.
Many within Jewish communal leadership may support Israeli government policies, but so do vastly larger numbers of non-Jewish politicians and organisations who face no such violence. Jewish opinion on Israel, like Jewish opinion on everything, spans the full spectrum of political thought. To attack a synagogue and its worshippers stems only from antisemitism, that ancient and persistent form of racism that targets people based on their identity rather than their beliefs or actions.
That this attack occurred on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, removes any doubt about its calculated antisemitic intent. No more deliberate affront to Jewish people could be imagined.
Yet if we are to build genuine solidarity against all violence, we must apply consistent principles. The same moral clarity that condemns this synagogue attack must extend to all terrorism, whether perpetrated by non-state actors or through state violence. An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind, and we are well on our way to collective blindness.
Palestinian civilians in Gaza have endured catastrophic violence. Israeli civilians have suffered brutal attacks. Both realities exist simultaneously, and acknowledging one does not diminish the other. True solidarity means standing against all violence that targets civilians, regardless of who perpetrates it or what political cause is invoked as justification.
This attack will predictably be weaponised by those seeking to poison community relations and restrict legitimate democratic protest. The right will exploit this horror to advance authoritarian agendas while social media platforms continue spreading hatred with impunity. We cannot allow tragedy to become pretext for silencing dissent or criminalising solidarity movements.
The Manchester Council of Mosques demonstrated the proper response: “Any attempt to divide us through violence or hatred will fail, we remain united in our commitment to peace and mutual respect.” This represents the spirit we all must embrace against racism, including antisemitism, and against the authoritarianism that feeds on division.
The mass movement expressing solidarity with Palestinians has organized peaceful protests involving thousands of Jewish participants. Those who carry out attacks like Manchester’s are enemies, not allies, of Palestinian liberation. The fear they generate makes justice harder to achieve, not easier. Violence in the name of Palestinian rights betrays Palestinians themselves.
We stand with Jewish communities against this violence. We stand with Palestinian communities against their suffering. We stand against all terrorism, whether perpetrated by individuals, organisations, or states. We stand for the principle that civilian lives matter equally, regardless of nationality, religion, or ethnicity.
Unity and solidarity against all forms of violence represent the best tribute to Manchester’s victims. The progressive movement must hold these positions simultaneously: unwavering opposition to antisemitism, uncompromising support for Palestinian rights, and absolute rejection of terrorism in all its forms.
Those who commit or excuse violence, whether synagogue attackers or state military forces bombing civilians, share the same moral failure. Until we hold all perpetrators of violence against civilians to identical standards of condemnation, we participate in the cycle that produces atrocities on all sides.
The path forward requires moral consistency even when politically inconvenient. Stand against antisemitism. Stand against Islamophobia. Stand against all racism. Stand against all terrorism, state and non-state alike. Stand for human dignity without exception or equivocation.
Only when we refuse to calibrate our moral outrage based on the identity of perpetrators or victims can we claim genuine commitment to peace and justice. Manchester demands we recommit to these principles, not selectively, but absolutely.
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