“We’re very good citizens. We’re loyal, we contribute an immense amount to society. And, sadly, people have been radicalised to hate us because of a conflict taking place thousands of miles away.”
Just as the assailants in Bondi chose a Jewish holy day, Hanukkah, as the date to inflict terror, the killer in Manchester, Jihad Al-Shamie, chose Yom Kippur to attack the synagogue.
Al-Shamie, who was born in Syria and given refuge in the UK, killed one man with a knife and wounded several others. He was shot dead at the scene. Another man was killed by a police bullet while attempting to hold the door of the synagogue closed to protect people inside.
‘Obscene levels of hate’
Levy says nobody in his community was surprised by the terrorist attack because they had seen an increase in hatred toward Jews over recent years.
He cites the slogan “globalise the Intifada” as an example of hate because he sees it as calling for attacks on Jewish civilians outside Israel.
“We’ve had to endure obscene levels of hate crime targeting Jewish people going about their daily lives, whether that’s in schools, universities, cultural venues, workplaces, even on the streets,” he says.
“While governments are supportive in looking to combat antisemitism, it’s a very strange world we live in at the minute where people are being radicalised in their own homes.”
A generation ago, Levy says, extremists in Britain had to sign up for a newsletter to be told who to hate. Now they can be radicalised with a few clicks of a mouse and be told to pick up a knife and murder someone.
Attacks on Jews surged in Britain after the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023, and peak groups say the data shows the increase began before the Israeli government responded to the attack. The Community Security Trust, which tracks antisemitism, says the annual count rose from 1662 to 4296 attacks in the year to the end of 2023.
The Heaton Park synagogue gained enormous support after the attack. King Charles visited soon afterwards to talk to victims, as did Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his wife, Victoria. Levy praises the British Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, for the strength of her support.
Rabbi Daniel Walker and King Charles during a visit to Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Manchester in October.Credit: Getty
However, he says political leaders and the media still need to do more to stop antisemitism.
He also worries that there is no meaningful dialogue between the Jewish community and the Muslim community in the UK to try to curb religious hatred.
“We’ve made several overtures to the Manchester mosques, who are our equivalents in the Muslim community, and they won’t meet with us because we’re Zionists,” he says.
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“They’re not prepared to meet with the overwhelming majority of Jews simply because of our beliefs, instead of looking to find a way to understand where both communities are coming from so that this conflict doesn’t play out on our streets.”
Levy hopes that Australia treats the Bondi attack as a “line in the sand” so the community rejects the religious hatred that leads to terrorism.
“We need people to start listening and understanding that antisemitism is out of control,” he says.
“It’s manifesting itself right across the whole of society.
“Until government and the media and prominent people actually understand that, and seek to work so that they don’t import this conflict onto the streets, then nothing’s going to change.”
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