Jihad al-Shamie emerged from a British subculture contaminated with violence.

There was a depressing inevitability to the terrorist attack outside Heaton Park synagogue last Thursday that claimed the lives of two worshippers, Adrian Daulby and Melvin Cravitz. For much of the past two years, Jewish communal groups, activists and public figures have warned about rising anti-Semitism, and cautioned that the atmosphere of febrile hostility would eventually manifest in real-world harm. Those fears were realised during Manchester’s Jewish community observed Judaism’s most holy day, Yom Kippur, a day of fasting, prayer, and penance, when Jihad al-Shamie launched his attack. “This is what you get for killing our children,” he shouted, according to Alan Levy, an eyewitness who recounted his experience to ITV News.

Dr Shiraz Maher

More by Dr Shiraz Maher