A year after the deadly terrorist attack at Manchester’s Heaton Park synagogue, the city’s Jewish community has again been targeted in an alleged terror plot, British police said Tuesday.
Two men in their 30s were arrested Sunday in Manchester as part of an investigation into a suspected plan to harm the Jewish community in northern England. The arrests were made just hours before Yom Kippur began, and both men remain in custody.
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Rabbi Daniel Walker, head of Heaton Park Synagogue, at the scene of last year’s attack
(Photo: Paul Currie / AFP)
The Manchester Evening News reported that the investigation centers on what police believe was an immediate threat to the Jewish community that was disrupted by authorities. According to the newspaper, the investigation is also expected to extend to the Cheetham Hill and Heaton Park areas.
Vicki Evans, a senior British police official, said the arrests followed a lengthy proactive investigation.
“This is a proactive investigation that has been ongoing for some time and has led to the disruption of what we believe was a plot to harm the Jewish community in the Manchester area,” she said.
“Counter Terrorism Policing remains focused on identifying and disrupting those who seek to harm our communities. We are acutely aware that this news will cause further concern among the Jewish community, as well as the wider public, particularly given the significant period of the Jewish High Holy Days.”
Evans said police were working closely with Greater Manchester Police and other partners to protect both the Jewish community and the wider public.
The arrests came as Jewish communities across Britain were preparing for Yom Kippur, amid heightened concern over antisemitism and threats against Jews in the country.
Mark Levy, chief executive of the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester, said the timing was particularly disturbing.
“Yesterday marked one year since Adrian Daulby and Melvin Cravitz were murdered in a terrorist attack targeting our community on Yom Kippur,” Levy said. “The fact that on this anniversary a terror plot that could once again have harmed Jews in Manchester was foiled makes this an extremely worrying period for British Jews.”
“We are grateful to Greater Manchester Police, the Metropolitan Police and the security services for their work in preventing another tragedy and for the extensive protection they continue to provide,” he added.
Adrian Daulby and Melvin Cravitz, murdered in Manchester on Yom Kippur last year
(Photo: Facebook)
Daulby and Cravitz were killed in last year’s attack on the Heaton Park synagogue in Manchester.
Levy said increased security alone could not address the underlying threat. “We continue to stress that security measures can only deal with the symptoms,” he said. “A year after the murders of Melvin and Adrian, the government must step up its efforts to address the roots of the hatred and extremism being spread in places of worship and other community spaces, which continue to motivate people to harm Jews.”
“We cannot be satisfied with simply protecting our community from the next attack,” Levy added. “Much more must be done to prevent people from being motivated to carry it out in the first place.”