JCPA Heartbroken by Deadly Attack on Manchester Synagogue on Yom Kippur

The Jewish Council for Public Affairs is heartbroken by Thursday’s attack on Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation in Manchester, UK, in which an assailant drove into and stabbed congregants gathered for Yom Kippur — killing two people and injuring others on the holiest day of the Jewish year.

Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, shared the following statement:

We are heartbroken by the horrific attack on a Jewish congregation in Manchester on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year for Jews. Two people were murdered and others injured in their synagogue — a sacred place of prayer and community.

Jews around the world are feeling increasingly unsafe as antisemitism, hate, and violence become normalized. Too many of us have feared news like this, especially on the High Holidays, when community gathers and feels especially vulnerable.

This tragedy does not happen in a vacuum. Normalized antisemitic hate leads to real-world violence — from Tree of Life to the Capital Jewish Museum, Boulder, and now Manchester. It threatens not only Jews, but all communities, and the very fabric of our society.