Text of letter:
As British Jews and Jews of other nationalities living in Britain, we feel intense shock and horror at the attack on Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation shul, on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of our calendar. We mourn those who died and send our love to their families, friends and congregation. We deplore and condemn violence of any kind directed against civilians.
As Jews living in Britain we are committed to the practice of doikayt: the places in which we live are our homes and we do our best to live in harmony with our neighbours of all backgrounds and demographics. Many of us live in close proximity to the densest populations of Muslims in Scotland, just as Heaton Park has one of the densest populations of Jews and Muslims living together in the UK. The response to the attack last Thursday must be through interfaith and community dialogue emphasising solidarity and commonalities.
We therefore absolutely reject the weaponisation of the attack to suppress protests against the genocide in Gaza. Many, including the Home Secretary, would seek to link the memory of those killed in Manchester to their own desire to repress support for Palestine ("‘Dark forces running amok’ across country, says Mahmood", The Herald, October 6). Doing so diminishes the memory of the victims.
At an impromptu rally for the kidnapped Global Sumud flotilla members in Edinburgh last week, which was attended by many Jews who condemn the genocide, there was a minute’s silence for the victims in Manchester. What is "un-British" about mourning the deaths of worshippers at a synagogue while also mourning the deaths of many thousands of Palestinians and calling for an end to the genocide and our government’s complicity in it? Jews in Manchester, and everywhere, should be safe to attend their shul [synagogue] and practise Jewish life; no one should be prevented from protesting genocide because of an anti-Semitic attack. These claims are simply not contradictory.
Any attempt to link the Manchester attack to pro-Palestinian activism in the United Kingdom is unfounded, irresponsible, and dangerous. Such claims risk criminalising legitimate political expression, deepening social polarisation, and diverting attention from the real causes of insecurity. The rise in anti-Semitism in Britain is not driven by solidarity with Palestinians, but is directly connected to the British Government’s complicity in the ongoing genocide in Palestine. By enabling policies of mass killing and displacement, and by repeatedly linking everyday Jewish life in the UK and the genocidal actions of Israel, the Government has created conditions of division and mistrust in which racism – including anti-Semitism – flourishes.
We therefore denounce anti-Semitism unequivocally, as we denounce all forms of racism. At the same time, we affirm that the safety of Jewish communities in Britain is inseparable from the safety and dignity of Palestinians. Jewish security will never be achieved by silencing Palestinian voices; it will only be achieved through justice, accountability, and the building of genuine solidarity between communities.
Two people were murdered in Manchester on October 2, and at least 53 people were murdered in Gaza on the same day. We mourn them all. May all their memories be a blessing.
Talitha Kearey (SUJSN; Sukkat Shalom), Matt Spitz Mahon (SUJSN) and Alessandra Cecolin (SUJSN), on behalf of the Scottish Universities Jewish Staff Network (SUJSN). This statement is supported by over 120 signatories, including academics, rabbis, over 100 Jewish people, and allies:
Ash Alexander (Sukkat Shalom [Edinburgh Liberal Jewish Community]); David Isdale Robertson Anderson; AC Baker; Lisa Barcan (Sukkat Shalom; Progressive Jews for Justice in Israel-Palestine [PJJIP]); Sue Bard (PJJIP); Simon Barrow; Janice Beckett (Christians for Palestine); Michele Benn (Leicester Progressive Jewish Congregation; PJJIIP ); Justin Lorenzo Biggi (SUJSN); Hagit Borer; Gabriella Brent (Na'amod; Miknaf Haaretz); Paul Brown, retired human rights lawyer; Maya Brown (Sheffield Reform [Jewish Community], Na’amod, Sheffield Friends of Standing Together); Ariel Caine; Dr Anne Caldwell; Levette Callander; Ivan Clark (SUJSN); Rosalind Clayton (PJJIP; Sukkat Shalom); Juliet Compagnon; Sima Cutting (Miknaf Haaretz); Isabelle Darmon (SUJSN), Lecturer in Sociology and Sustainable Development; Livnat Konopny Decleve (SUJSN), British Academy International Fellow in Social and Political Science; Toni Dismore (Na'amod); Max Downes; Eliana Dunlap (Sukkat Shalom); Benjamin Eder; Mor Kandlik Eltanani; Gillian Ferguson; Benjamin Franks (Garnethill Synagogye); Tomas Frere-Jenkins (Seven Hills Shul); Beth Frieden (Glasgow Southside Family Chavurah); Yoav Galai; Ellen Galford (PJJIP); Ophira Gamliel (SUJSN), Senior Lecturer in South Asian Religions, Theology and Religious Studies; Solomon Garland; Rabbi Herschel Gluck OBE, President of the Shomrim (Stamford Hill), Chairman of the Arab-Jewish Forum, Chairman/Founder of the Muslim-Jewish Forum; Donny Gluckstein; Amos Goldberg, Professor of Holocaust history, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel; Spencer Goldsmith (Edinburgh University Kehillah, Jüdische Stimme); Dr Anthony Howard David Graham; Emma Grinfeld; Grahame Gross (LPJC Leicester Progressive Jewish Congregation; PJJIP; Na'amod); Carys Groves (PJJIP); Mia Gubbay (Glasgow Southside Family Chavurah); Yohai Hakak (Na'amod), Senior Lecturer in Social Work ; Siân Harris; Alana Hathaway; Caspar Heinemann (Sukkat Shalom; PJJIP); Neil Holmes; Henry Ivry (SUJSN); Emily Jackson; Diana Jerome; Hamish Kallin (SUJSN); Leo Kaminski (PJJIP); Adam Kammerling; Thomas Kampe; Jaclyn Kaye; Ian Kearey; Rebekah Kearey; Korin Knight; Yosh Kosminsky; Adi Kuntsman; Katherine Lebow, Associate Professor of Modern European History; Anne Lee; Diane T Levine; Barrie Levine (Sukkat Shalom; Na’amod; PJJIP); Gica Loening (PJJIP; Sukkat Shalom); Moshe Machover; Joe Mahon; Merle Mahon; Henry Maitles (SUJSN), Emeritus Professor of Education; Wendy Maltinsky; Grace McDonough; Asra Meiksin (Edinburgh University Kehillah); Stasa Morgan-Appel (Na'amod); Maurice Naftalin (Sukkat Shalom; PJJIP; Amitai Netser; Sarah Nicholas; Fred Oxby; Dr Brian Parkin; Diana Paton (Edinburgh University Jewish Staff Network); Alison Phipps, Professor of Languages and Intercultural Studies UNESCO Chair in Refugee Integration through Languages and the Arts; Jonathan Preminger; Penny Rabiger (Na'amod), PhD in the Sociology of Race and Education; Anupama Ranawana; Maya Reggev; Jess Rickenback (SUJSN); Malia Rock-Joffe; Ymir Rosenberg; Alice Ross (Edinburgh University Jewish Staff Network); Tommy Ross-Williams; Samuel Rutherford; Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah (PJJIP), Emeritus Rabbi; Solomon Schonfield (Bevis Marks Synagogue ); Silver Sheinfield; Ally Sheller (Kehillah); Peter Sheridan (Birmingham Progressive Synagogue); Deborah Jane Sheridan; Elena Silverstein (Sukkat Shalom); Noah Simon; Irris Singer (Finchley Progressive Synagogue ); Rachel Solnick (Na'amod; Miknaf ha'aretz ); Sara Solnick (Westminster Synagogue; Na’amod); Jeremy Solnick (Westminster Synagogue); Sam Solnick; Parsifal Solomon; Samuel Spiegel (SUJSN), Professor of Global Studies and International Development; Geoffrey Stevenson (Scottish Episcopal Church), Lecturer in Theology; James Stewart (Scottish Episcopal Church); Adam Stock (UK Jewish Academic Network); Edward Paul Szekely; Hannah Taylor; Phil Thomas; Neil Turok (SUJSN); Aya Vandenbussche; Misha Vides; Philip Wadler (Sukkat Shalom; SUJSN); Miri Weingarten; Ben Whitehouse; Rhys Williams; Cherry Wolfe (3 Counties Liberal Jewish Community); Anna Wood (Glasgow Reform Synagogue, PJJIP); Anonymous (staff member, University of Edinburgh [email verified]).