{"id":635209,"date":"2025-12-16T03:05:24","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T03:05:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/635209\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T03:05:24","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T03:05:24","slug":"these-attacks-took-place-at-opposite-ends-of-the-world-but-to-us-it-feels-like-next-door","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/635209\/","title":{"rendered":"‘These attacks took place at opposite ends of the world, but to us, it feels like next door’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Members of Manchester’s Jewish community have reacted to the Bondi Beach attackTributes laid outside Heaton Park Synagogue on October 5. (Image: William Lailey \/ SWNS)<\/p>\n

Members of Manchester’s Jewish community have reacted to the despicable terror attack on a Jewish celebration that took place in Sydney over the weekend.<\/p>\n

A total of 16 innocent people were killed and 42 people injured when two gunmen, a father and son, opened fire <\/a>on a Hannukah celebration taking place by Bondi Beach on Sunday (December 14).<\/p>\n

A senior law enforcement official has confirmed that one of the gunmen, the son, was Naveed Akram from Bonnyrigg, in Sydney’s south-west. His father has since been identified as Sajid, who was shot dead.<\/p>\n

Among the victims, aged between 10 and 87,<\/a> was British-born rabbi Eli Schlanger. The 41 year-old father-of-five, born in London, was Assistant Rabbi at Chabad of Bondi. Mr Schlanger is the cousin of Dovid Lewis<\/a>, who is rabbi of the South Manchester Synagogue in Bowdon, Trafford<\/a>. Their great-uncle, the late Reverend Leslie Olsberg, served as a minister at the Heaton Park<\/a> Synagogue.<\/p>\n

Rabbi Eli Schlanger (Image: Mirror)<\/p>\n

For the shocking incident comes almost ten weeks on from the terrorist attack on this synagogue, which took place on Yom Kippur on October 2, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.<\/p>\n

Terrorist Jihad Al-Shamie drove his Kia Picanto into the gates of the synagogue and began attacking people with a knife, wearing a fake suicide belt. Worshippers Melvin Cravitz and Adrian Daulby tragically lost their lives, while al-Shamie was shot dead by armed police.<\/p>\n

Speaking at Heaton Park Synagogue today (December 15), GMP’s Assistant Chief Constable John Webster said the force would be increasing their presence in Manchester\u2019s Jewish communities <\/a>following the attack and over Hannukah.<\/p>\n

Alan Levy, who is a Chair of the Trustees of Heaton Park synagogue, and had been inside the synagogue on the day of the attack. said he felt reassured by this news and had ‘nothing but praise’ for the police – but added that he felt it was not ‘tackling the root cause’ of these acts.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, we are used to it,” he told the M.E.N. “We are the only faith group that has to practice and celebrate behind fences, with guards outside. You don\u2019t find that at churches, or mosques, or temples – just our celebrations and communal buildings.”<\/p>\n

Mr Levy was present on the day of the Yom Kippur attack (Image: Manchester Evening News )<\/p>\n

Asked about his reaction to the attack in Australia, he said: “It was a real trigger for me. It brought back harrowing memories of what I saw, standing by these doors, being face to face with evil.<\/p>\n

“Looking through panes of glass and seeing pure evil, waving a knife, stabbing at the doors and trying to get in. To see these images on the news and hear about people being shot, it is just harrowing.<\/p>\n

“I fully know where the families are coming from and understand what they’re going through, and I feel so sorry for them.”<\/p>\n

His son Marc Levy, who is Chief Executive of the Jewish Representative Council (JRC) of Greater Manchester, said the attack in Bondi felt ‘incredibly close’.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though it’s literally on the other side of the world, figuratively it’s very close,” he said. “As soon as it happened I knew there would some sort of link between the Jewish community in Manchester and the Jewish community in Sydney. It\u2019s very close to home.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though its on the other side of the world, it may as well have been next door. It’s a very small community.<\/p>\n

“There are a number of people who have family in Sydney who have again been fearful their family’s safety. And it leaves people feeling worried to go about their daily lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Levy said the Jewish community in Manchester was \u2018still reeling and dealing with the aftermath\u2019 of the Heaton Park attack but had \u2018shown an incredible amount of strength and humility.\u201d<\/p>\n

A memorial one week on from the Yom Kippur attack. (Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

Raphi Bloom, a board member of the JRC, said he also knew one of those injured in Bondi Beach attack. \u201cHe\u2019s an incredibly lucky man as the bullet just grazed his head,\u201d he told the Manchester Evening News.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as I heard he was injured I went to WhatsApp him. And the last message he had sent me was on October 2 saying he had just heard about Heaton Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just goes to show, these attacks have taken place at opposite ends of the world, but to the Jewish community, it feels like they have taken place next door.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe community in Australia have been experiencing identical levels of Jew hate since October 7 (2023), and their leaders have been warning police and elected leaders that that was going to happen, in the same way that we had.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn both cases we were ignored, and the tragic consequences are plain to see. An attack on one of us is taken as an attack on all of us.”<\/p>\n

Asked if the atrocity would increase fear in Manchester\u2019s Jewish community, Mr Bloom said that it had \u2018never subsided\u2019 following the Heaton Park synagogue attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are still very, very fearful,\u201d he said. “We anticipate, we expect another attack here. Until the root causes are dealt with, people are still questioning whether they have a future here for them and their children.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou hear of people taking incredible precautions. So there is a palpable sense of fear and worry. But there is also resilience.<\/p>\n

“We are proud Mancunian Jews. We\u2019re not going to be cowered. We love our city, we love being Mancunian, we love being British and we love being Jewish. And they sit side-by-side.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said there was an \u2018incredible amount of empathy\u2019 from the community in Manchester given what happened at Heaton Park just eight weeks ago and that there had \u2018always been an incredible amount of support from so many people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are determined to carry on,\u201d he finished.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Members of Manchester’s Jewish community have reacted to the Bondi Beach attackTributes laid outside Heaton Park Synagogue on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":635210,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,47708,2465,156254,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-635209","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-jewish-communities","12":"tag-manchester","13":"tag-manchester-synagogue-attack","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115727036038100139","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=635209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/635210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}