On the 2nd October, we as GMIAU staff were horrified and heartbroken to hear news of the deadly attack on Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Crumpsall, the area where we have been based for 23 years. We know the effects of this antisemitic attack were felt not only in Manchester but across the country.
Our experience of Crumpsall has always been of a diverse and harmonious community, where people of different religions live peacefully side by side. This moment must not be used to sow division, and the identity of the attacker must not be used to justify further hatred. In the words of a statement by the British Syrian Community expressing their condolences and solidarity with the Jewish community, “we appeal to our wider society not to allow this tragedy to give rise to racist incidents directed at Syrians, Muslims, or migrants.”
No one should feel unsafe in the place where they worship, in their home, in their schools, or on the streets of their city. But we are living in a time of rising hatred. As recorded hate crimes against Jewish people have risen, so have anti-Muslim hate crimes. So too have we seen a rise in racist hatred directed at hotels housing people seeking asylum, and on the charities and campaign groups supporting them. This violence is encouraged by the media and politicians. It is also often a result of online radicalisation. The result is people feeling frightened to leave their homes, worried that clothing identifying them as Jewish or Muslim, or the colour of their skin, makes them more vulnerable to being attacked or harassed.
It is also important that the right to protest is protected in this moment, including the right to peacefully protest in support of Palestine and against two years of genocide in Gaza. Freedom of expression and freedom to protest are fundamental rights. Restricting these rights will not make any of us more safe.
The journalist Simon Hattenstone recently wrote a piece celebrating the “rainbows within rainbows” of Crumpsall. We stand with all in our wonderful community here, and against attempts to frighten and divide us.
This week is National Hate Crime Awareness Week. Find out more about how to report hate crime here.