“They tried to kill us. They failed. Let’s eat,” Andrew Walters quipped, echoing a well-known Jewish joke that holds particular resonance in Greater Manchester today. Walters, an independent councillor for Kersal and Broughton Park, Salford, embodies the resilient spirit of his Orthodox Jewish community, which recently found itself a target of an Islamic State sleeper cell. The plot, aiming to “kill as many Jews as possible” in a firearms attack, was thwarted, resulting in the conviction of Walid Saadaoui and Amar Hussein for terrorism offences.
This development follows a disturbing trend of extremist threats against Jewish communities in the UK. However, Walters insists that the plot has not shaken the community’s commitment to coexist peacefully with their neighbors. “My business partner is a religious Muslim and we get on great,” said Walters, who advocates for the availability of medical cannabis and psilocybin on the NHS. “There’s good and bad in any community. Most just want to live in peace.”
Community Resilience and Support
Despite the threats, the Jewish community in Greater Manchester continues to thrive, supported by initiatives like the Hershel Weiss children and families centre. Led by Michelle Ciffer Klein, the centre has grown from a single room in a synagogue to a bustling, council-funded facility that offers a range of services, including mother and baby groups, clinics, and educational programs.
Ciffer Klein emphasizes that while security is a concern, the pressing issues for many families revolve around everyday challenges. “The cost of living – kosher food is very expensive – energy bills and people who can’t afford to buy milk and nappies, housing, families that miss benefits and can’t put food on the table – that’s what I’m dealing with,” she said.
Heightened Vigilance and Security
Meanwhile, the community’s vigilance has increased significantly. The Salford Shomrim, a Jewish civilian patrol, plays a crucial role in maintaining security, sharing intelligence with police and acting as a bridge between Yiddish and Hebrew speakers and law enforcement agencies. “We can get to an incident in two minutes,” said MD Factor, the executive director of Salford Shomrim. “The mood is definitely tense. We’ve seen a massive increase in calls to our 24-hour hotline about suspicious activities.”
Despite these challenges, Walters, one of the few Orthodox Jewish local politicians in the UK, emphasizes that Greater Manchester’s Orthodox communities, the fastest-growing in Europe, refuse to live in fear. “We love life,” he said. “And we believe that if we die, we’re going to a better place. We refuse to be afraid.”
Historical Context and Current Challenges
The announcement comes as the Jewish community reflects on historical parallels. Jeremy Michelson, vice-president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, recalls heightened security in north London’s Jewish communities during the 1960s due to neo-Nazi arson attacks. “All we ever wanted from Britain was to give us a chance to live here, practise our faith and contribute – and we’ve done that,” he said.
However, the threat landscape has evolved. While the Community Security Trust (CST) recorded more far-right motivated anti-Jewish hate incidents than Islamist extremism in 2024, the most violent plots have involved Islamist extremists. “A big part of our work on the security side is trying to identify and disrupt hostile reconnaissance of Jewish targets that would precede an attack,” said Dave Rich, CST’s head of policy.
“The thing about Manchester is, you’ve had the Heaton Park attack and the [Saadaoui and Hussein case]. You had the guy who flew from Blackburn to Texas to hold people hostage at a synagogue. You had the guy who went into Marks & Spencer in Burnley and stabbed two people because he said Marks & Spencer support Israel. And you can go back to … the Oldham couple who were building bombs. So you’ve got a pattern now of Islamist terrorism and antisemitism coming out of towns and suburbs north of the city.” – Dave Rich
Future Outlook and Community Spirit
As the Jewish community navigates these challenges, there is a call for a new extremism strategy. Russell Langer, the Jewish Leadership Council’s director of public affairs, highlights the need to address Islamist extremism without conflating it with the Muslim faith. “We have to be careful of the language we use because we are talking about an ideology here; we’re not talking about the religion, we’re not talking about the people. We are talking about a distinct threat,” he said.
Despite the threats, a note of joyful defiance persists. “In London there were massive gatherings to mark the two-year anniversary of 7 October,” Langer noted. “The Manchester [synagogue] attack formed a big part of the conversation in a way that wasn’t planned, but the event itself was to mark the hostages, the people who died on the day. Unplanned at the end, a musician started playing Jewish tunes as people were leaving and, spontaneously, people started dancing. That’s the positive spin.”
As the community continues to face security threats, these moments of resilience and unity underscore the enduring spirit of Greater Manchester’s Jewish community. The challenges are significant, but so too is the community’s determination to live freely and peacefully.
