‘He Started Stabbing Anyone Near Him’: Two Murdered at England Synagogue During Yom Kippur Terror Attack

Latest Developments

Deadly Synagogue Attack on Holy Day: At least two people were murdered and three others seriously wounded on October 2 outside the Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester, England, after a terrorist carried out a combined car ramming and stabbing attack on Judaism’s holiest day, Yom Kippur. British police eliminated the suspect shortly after the attack began, arresting two other individuals near the scene. Video posted on social media showed police warning pedestrians to step back, shouting, “He has a bomb!” as they aimed their weapons at the man, with a controlled explosion being carried out after the assailant was neutralized. One witness said that the car had been driving erratically before crashing into the synagogue gates, after which the suspect exited his vehicle and “started stabbing anyone near him.”
Prime Minister Reacts: Keir Starmer, prime minister of the United Kingdom, labeled the attack “absolutely shocking,” adding that, “The fact that this has taken place on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, makes it all the more horrific.” Starmer said that he would be traveling to London to convene a COBRA meeting, the term for the Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms, where the government’s emergency committee meets to “handle matters of national emergency or major disruption.” Under Starmer, antisemitic incidents in the UK have skyrocketed in the wake of the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, atrocities in Israel, with 1,500 anti-Jewish incidents taking place in the first half of 2025 alone. Last year, the head of the UK’s counterterrorism unit warned that the war between Israel and Hamas terrorists had created a “radicalization moment” in England.
Hamas Cell Busted in Germany: The attack in Manchester came one day after German authorities arrested three alleged members of the Iran-backed Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas over plans to target Germany’s Jewish and Israeli communities. During the raid, several weapons, including an AK-47 rifle and ammunition, were found. Two of the suspects, named Abed Al G., Wael F.M., and Ahmad I. — per German privacy laws — were German citizens, and the third was a Lebanese man. In November 2024, German prosecutors announced charges against four men — two from Lebanon, one Egyptian citizen, and one Dutch national — suspected of being operatives of Hamas and plotting terrorist attacks on European soil.

FDD Expert Response

“The vile attack on a synagogue in Manchester is shocking but not surprising. Ever since the Hamas atrocities against Israel on October 7th and Israel’s fully justified military campaign in response, antisemitism has reared its head in the United Kingdom. Provocative marches, pro-terror flags and banners, and attacks on Jewish people and institutions have become commonplace. This has been exacerbated by inaccurate media and official commentary on famine in Gaza, allegations of an Israeli genocide against the Palestinians, and Keir Starmer’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state. Meanwhile, the British police and courts have applied a two-tier approach, either failing to arrest or failing to prosecute in clear instances of Jew hatred. It was only a matter of time before this turned lethal, as tragically happened today. The UK needs to wake up to the extremist danger that it has been incubating.” — Edmund Fitton-Brown, Senior Fellow

“This brutal terrorist attack in Manchester proves that Jewish communities outside Israel are a front in Hamas’s war to destroy the Jewish state. For two years, pro-Hamas demonstrators have chanted ‘globalize the intifada,’ ‘f—k Zionists,’ and other obscene slogans, creating a permissive environment for atrocities like this one. Recently, the British government took the correct step by designating Palestine Action as a terrorist organization. Every pro-Hamas group in the UK now needs to be similarly scrutinized closely for incitement to terrorism, with action taken where necessary.” — Ben Cohen, FDD Senior Analyst and Rapid Response Director

“Hamas has long insisted that its fight is confined to the borders of ‘Palestine,’ a claim designed to frame the organization as a nationalist ‘resistance’ movement rather than a transnational terrorist enterprise. Yet evidence of Hamas planning attacks against Jewish targets abroad is emerging. Such a deviation would not only undermine Hamas’s carefully cultivated image but also place it in the same category as global terrorist groups that it has long tried to distinguish itself from.” — Joe Truzman, Senior Research Analyst and Editor at FDD’s Long War Journal

“Hamas is thrilled to see Western countries aiding its campaign to eradicate the Jewish state. But it cannot shed its fundamental nature as a terrorist resistance group. While Hamas is tactically flexible, willing to carry out international terrorist attacks, sacrifice Palestinians for political gain, and negotiate when it sees fit, Hamas remains ideologically rigid in its commitment to Israel’s destruction.” — David May, FDD Research Manager and Senior Research Analyst