[Christmas Dynasnow]

‘We’ve faced tsunami of hatred since Oct 7’, says worshipper
A regular worshipper at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue has described this morning’s attack as a “culmination of something the Jewish community has been fearing for two years”.

Raphi Bloom, co-chairman of North West Friends of Israel, told Sky News: “This attack is a culmination of something the Jewish community have been fearing for two years.

“We’ve been faced with a tsunami of Jew hatred since October 7 - vandalism, physical attacks, online abuse, mistreatment in the NHS by medics. University students have been intimidated and been attacked on campus.

“We’ve had hate marches every week throughout our street with disgusting Holocaust imagery comparing Jews to Nazis.

“And ultimately, almost every Jew in this country realised that this day would come. I never thought it would happen at my synagogue, to my friends, to my rabbi, in my city.

“It’s something we feared would come and has happened because there has been such inaction to tackle this wave of hatred targeting the Jewish community in the UK over a conflict two and a half thousand miles away.”

He called on every Jewish organisation in the UK to have “large fences around it” and 24-hour security.