By Sam Tabahriti
MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) -The British government vowed to redouble its efforts to tackle antisemitism on Friday as the Jewish community reeled from an attack at a Manchester synagogue that killed two people on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
The Israeli government has accused Britain of allowing rampant antisemitism to spread through British cities and on its university campuses in the wake of the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel that sparked Israel’s war in Gaza.
Earlier on Friday, police named the two men killed in the attack as Adrian Daulby, 53, and Melvin Cravitz, 66, both local residents.
The men were killed on Thursday when a man drove a car into pedestrians and then began stabbing them outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in the city in northern England.
The attacker has been named by police as Jihad al-Shamie, a 35-year-old British citizen of Syrian descent, who was shot dead at the scene by armed officers.
Britain’s interior minister, Shabana Mahmood, said she understood the strength of feeling held by all sides on the conflict in Gaza but said it was important that that did not spill over into tensions on British streets.
“We will do whatever is required to keep our Jewish community safe,” Mahmood told Times Radio. “People will see a heavier police presence at all communal facilities – primarily synagogues, but other places within the community as well.”
Antisemitism has soared to record levels in Britain since the October 2023 attacks, with Jewish leaders saying they have been left terrified by regular, large pro-Palestine marches in major cities that they say promote hatred towards Jews.
In the hours after the attack on Thursday several pro-Palestine protests took place in British cities, with police clashing with demonstrators outside Downing Street, leading to 40 arrests.
Mahmood said the protests, happening just hours after the attack, were un-British and dishonourable.
“I would call on everybody who is considering protest in the next day or two to just take a step back and to show some humanity and some love towards a community that is grieving,” she said.
(Reporting by Sarah Young and William James; writing by Kate Holton)
