By Jonathan Saul
LONDON (Reuters) -With the Jewish holiday of Sukkot approaching on Monday night, Rabbi Ben Kurzer wishes he did not need high security for his congregants to say their prayers after last week’s attack at a synagogue in Manchester left two Jewish worshippers dead.
“Sadly, for a long time now, we have been slowly upping our security more and more,” Kurzer said, as the light streamed in from the stained glass windows in his London synagogue.
“We would love to live in a country where we didn’t have to do that quite as much.”
Last Thursday, a British man of Syrian descent drove a car into pedestrians and then began stabbing people on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, outside a synagogue in north Manchester. Police said later they accidentally shot one of the two victims killed in the attack.
Many of Britain’s Jews say they are unfairly targeted due to the solidarity that most of the community has with Israel, especially after the Hamas-led attack on Israel two years ago. This has spilled over into attacks on Jews amid protests by pro-Palestinian and other groups against Israel’s war in Gaza.
As a consequence, Jewish communities have had to spend more money to bring in extra private security companies, and rely on a volunteer network while waiting for more support from the government, community officials say.
RISE IN ANTISEMITIC INCIDENTS
Children have been stopped from playing outside during services in some synagogues, many of which are already surrounded by barbed wire and security spikes.
“Enhanced security is necessary, but it shouldn’t really need to be,” said Jonathan Roodyn, who is Rabbi of another London community.
“Rather, the issues that British society faces need to be addressed…There needs to be a comprehensive plan of education to ensure that violence, that terror, that fear and intimidation are not part of our daily experience.”
Britain’s CST charity, which says it protects British Jews from terrorism and antisemitism, recorded 1,521 antisemitic incidents across the UK in the first half of 2025, the second-highest total ever reported in the first six months of any year.
Recent incidents have included attacks on Jewish school children and faeces being smeared on Jewish sites in London including a synagogue, community groups say.
“We want to be able to do the things that everyone else can do, without fear, without intimidation, and without threats,” Roodyn said.
Attacks against Jews and Jewish targets have risen worldwide since Israel began its assault on Gaza after the 2023 Hamas-led attacks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long complained of growing antisemitism in many European countries.
Around 300,000 Jews live in Britain, comprising 0.5% of the UK’s total population and the world’s fifth largest Jewish community, according to data from the independent Institute for Jewish Policy Research. London and Manchester are home to the biggest communities.
BARBED WIRE, SPIKES AND CCTV
Richard Verber, with the United Synagogue charity which represents some 60 communities in Britain and is among the biggest cluster of Jewish institutions, said the association had to spend 1 million pounds ($1.34 million) annually on security measures that it would rather use to foster Jewish life.
“No other faith group, as far as I know, has to have a level of protection in its places of worship, in its schools, in its community buildings; the Jewish community does.”
“We’re talking fences, we’re talking spikes on rails, we’re talking barbed wire, we’re talking CCTV, we’re talking about them all being plugged into local police forces.
“It is the basic duty of any government to protect its citizens. And that failed (in Manchester) in the most awful way.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer last week promised Britain’s Jews: “I will do everything in my power to guarantee you the security you deserve”.
London’s Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley said the force had increased visible patrols and protective security around synagogues, Jewish schools and community centres.
“We are with you … You are not alone,” Rowley wrote in the Jewish Chronicle on Sunday.
Even with these assurances, many British Jews were mistrustful, said Nicole Lampert, a journalist and columnist on British Jewry.
“Our synagogues, our schools and our nurseries are already like fortresses … And I do not trust them (the government) to keep us safe,” she said. “The danger remains frighteningly high.”
($1 = 0.7448 pounds)
(Reporting by Jonathan Saul, additional reporting by Sarah Young, editing by Rachel Armstrong and Ros Russell)
