Zak Wagman: The terrorist attack in Manchester may have shocked but British Jews have lived with the threat for far too long

Zak Wagman is a Conservative councillor on the London Borough of Harrow. He is also a Board Member of the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust.

On my way to my local synagogue on Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, I learnt of the horrific terror attack at a synagogue in Manchester that killed two and left others wounded. I was heading to synagogue – but not to pray. Like so many of my friends and family, I was going to do my volunteer security shift. Part of the vast network of Community Security Trust volunteers who stand outside synagogues to protect our congregations and keep ourselves safe.

The fact that this needs to happen is shocking – but nothing new. It has been the case for decades. And across Europe, it is not uncommon for Jewish schools, community centres, and buildings to have armed guards – as we are long overdue here in the UK.

Unfortunately, however awful this attack was, most Jews will tell you that it’s been coming. Since October 7th 2023, weekly hate marches have been permitted on the streets of London, unchecked. Whilst no doubt some – maybe even most – of the people who attend have good intentions and care about the Palestinian people, the leaders of these marches do not. Indeed much of the imagery and language of these marches – from swastikas to symbols of the heinous Hamas/Hezbollah/Houthi terrorists – makes this clear.

But most importantly, these protests, week in and week out, hear calls to “globalise the intifada” and demands that “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”. These are both explicitly antisemitic calls. And what happened in Manchester is quite literally a globalisation of the intifada.

The police tell us that it’s complex to manage these hate marches; that there are community relations challenges. But if we as a society are at a point where stopping unchecked incitement to violence against a minority group across our capital is “complex”, then we have lost already.

And for anybody who still refuses to accept the motivations for these marches, don’t forget – the first march was organised on 7th October 2023 – the day that Hamas went on its murderous, kidnapping, raping rampage across southern Israel, and well before the IDF entered Gaza. They have only ever been about one thing – the Jews.

So what has happened in Manchester is, sadly, not a surprise. It’s been coming. Because since Hamas invaded Israel, antisemitism in the UK has been through the roof, at levels never seen before. A study from the Anti Defamation League in 2024 found that 12 per cent of UK adults hold antisemitic attitudes. 20 per cent said that Jews talk too much about the Holocaust and 10 per cent that Jewish people seek money more than others.

Antisemitism has long been rooted in UK society. It exists on university campuses, at football matches and around high-society dinner tables. In the North and the South, among the old and the young. It always has and it probably always will. But the pandering of the police, of politicians, of much of the media, to not wanting to challenge deeply entrenched antisemitic views for fear of causing offence, especially since October 7th, made this attack not just possible but more likely.

Just the night before the attack, the streets of London were filled with the hate mobs, braying, setting off fireworks, spewing their incitement. And the authorities did nothing. Those who called to globalise the intifada got what they wanted. And those authorities who sat back and let them do that, who rewarded the Hamas terrorists with statehood just for political gain, allowed this to happen.

Sadly now is too late for society to wake up the reality that the Jewish community has been dealing with for so long.