![\"Kezzy](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Kezzy-Miller-286x300.jpg\")
Kezzy Miller, President of JSoC at University of Liverpool. Image copyright Kezzy Miller<\/p>\nMembers of Merseyside\u2019s Jewish community have spoken out about their fears of anti-semitic attacks after the stabbing of two Jewish men in Golders Green, London yesterday.<\/p>\n
Kezzy Miller, 20, president of The University of Liverpool\u2019s Jewish Society said today: \u201cEveryone is holding their breath, like what what\u2019s going happen next and it\u2019s just absolutely terrifying.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kezzy Miller, President of JSoC at University of Liverpool. Image copyright Kezzy Miller<\/p>\n
Ms Miller, who lives in London when she is not at university, said the attacks were \u201cvery close to home\u201d. Referring to an arson attack in the capital earlier this month, she added: \u201cWhat happened at Finchley Reform Synagogue two weeks ago was actually my home synagogue, we want to be there and be safe but really can\u2019t feel safe there anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened yesterday in Golders Green, my aunt and uncle\u2019s shop is actually across the road from where the stabbing happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barry Lavene, former President of the Merseyside Jewish Representative Council, said today: \u201cPeople are very unsettled; others just feel until something is done It will carry on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Lavene reflected: \u201cMost of the time everybody\u2019s being reactive they\u2019re reacting what\u2019s happening instead of being proactive and going out there to try and stop it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c<\/strong>Liverpool, so far, we\u2019ve been fine, but each time something happens we have to ramp up our security and it\u2019s crazy, people don\u2019t realise what it\u2019s like for your children for children having to go to school with guards on their gates.\u201d<\/p>\n Following the Golders Green attack, the Government has pledged \u00a325m to boost security at Jewish buildings.<\/p>\n Mr Lavene described the move as \u201cthrowing money\u201d at the problem but \u201cstill reactive and we need to get on the front foot\u201d.<\/p>\n Referring to the recent spate of attacks on Jewish communities in Britain, he called for the wider public to speak out in solidarity. He said: \u201cIn the United Kingdom we are a very small percentage of the population, it\u2019s up to the general population to say this is unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n The Jewish Community Security Trust (CST) recorded 1,662 antisemitic incidents nationally the year before 7 October 2023, rising to 5,583 the year after October 7.<\/p>\n Merseyside Police recorded an increase from 45 to 78 incidents in<\/p>\n the same period, reflecting the sharp rise nationally and the current escalation in the Middle East is unlikely to help the situation.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, incidents such as the Heaton Park synagogue attack on October 2 last year in which two people were killed and the Bondi Beach attack in Sydney in December have created fear in Jewish communities globally.<\/p>\n Ms Miller said: \u201cHow many more Jews need to be injured or scared\u2026 even my non-Jewish housemate said if this was happening to any other community there would be a state of emergency.\u201d<\/p>\n Concerns among Merseyside\u2019s Jewish community have been mounting for some time. Speaking to Mersey News Live last autumn, Rabbi Natan, Rabbi of the Liverpool Reform Synagogue, said students were on the \u201cfrontline\u201d of tensions, with protests like 2025\u2019s pro-Palestine encampments in Abercromby Square leaving Jewish students who lived close by feeling \u201cvery uncomfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms Miller herself had student accommodation at the time next to Abercromby Square. She said last autumn: \u201cI woke up every morning to chants of Globalise the Intifada which in lots of ways means commit acts against Jewish people across the world, that was uncomfortable and unsettling.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI cannot be walking down that street with my necklace out\u2026 God knows what could happen to me if I walk past the protest and they see that I\u2019m outwardly Jewish.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking to Mersey News Live in February 2026, Tamzin Lester, 21, Sabbatical Officer for the national Union of Jewish students, said that her organisation receives frequent reports of anti-Semitism on campus either from students, societies or lecturers. She said: \u201cIt comes a lot of the time in the form of anti-Zionism where it is shaped, it seeps into hate speech, there is nothing wrong with legitimate criticism of Israel but many times people use that as a way to infuse their hate speech.\u201d<\/p>\n Both Ms Lester and Ms Miller said that they and other Jewish students are repeatedly questioned about their political views and that many people assume they are pro-Netanyahu and pro-settler violence because they are Jewish.<\/p>\n Ms Miller said that even though Israel may not be home, many Jewish people have a strong connection to the country and members of the Jewish Society have a range of views that are across the political spectrum. She added: \u00a0\u201cWe can love Israel as a home for the Jewish people but also cannot agree with the government and what the Government is doing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Members of Merseyside\u2019s Jewish community have spoken out about their fears of anti-semitic attacks after the stabbing of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":929544,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[11413,748,393,4884,170854,179,257,260145,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-929543","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-attack","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-jewish-culture","13":"tag-liverpool","14":"tag-london","15":"tag-merseyside-jewish-representative-council","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116496367063659544","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929543","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=929543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/929544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=929543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=929543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=929543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/3EC8T2T-2-300x200.jpg\")
London, England, UK. 29th Apr, 2026. A woman holds a \u2018Stop the attacks on Jews\u2019 sign near the crime scene in Golders Green after two Jewish men were stabbed.. (Credit Image: \u00a9 Vuk Valcic\/ZUMA Press Wire) PIC:REF 3EC8T2T<\/p>\n![\"Liverpool](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/reform-synogogue-300x225.jpg\")
Reform Synagogue, Liverpool, Image Copyright Claire Berry<\/p>\n