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FLASH ALERT: VEHICLE RAMMING AND STABBING ATTACK OUTSIDE SYNAGOGUE IN MANCHESTER, UK; SUSPECT KILLED; ANTI-SEMITISM PERSISTS AND RISK OF FURTHER ATTACKS REMAIN HIGH  

Lydia Baccino, Chiara Michieli, Extremism and EUCOM Team

Ignacio Valdés Fuentes, Candela Echeverria, WATCH Team

Kate Shymkiv, Editor; Elena Alice Rossetti, Senior Editor

October 2, 2025

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Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue, Crumpsall, Manchester, England[1]


The Counterterrorism Group (CTG) is issuing a FLASH ALERT to Jewish communities and law enforcement agencies within England following a vehicle-ramming and stabbing attack on worshippers at a synagogue in Manchester, England, on October 2. At 0931 local time, law enforcement responded to calls of a vehicle driving at people and a suspected stabbing at Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in the Crumpsall area, North Manchester. Greater Manchester Police (GMP) reported that the attackers deployed firearms at 0934.[2] GMP fired the shots shortly after, shooting an alleged suspect. The police confirmed that the attacker killed one person by ramming a vehicle and stabbed another person. Three others remain in critical condition in the hospital with stab wounds and injuries from the vehicle ramming.[3] Counter Terrorist Policing (CTP) declared the attack a “terrorist incident.”[4] GMP confirmed the attack as a major incident and implemented “Plato,” a coordinated emergency services’ response to large-scale incidents.[5] Law enforcement labelled the attack as a terrorist act, and the Counter Terrorism Police is conducting investigations.[6] This attack, which happened on Yom Kippur, the most important holiday in the Jewish calendar, demonstrates its anti-Semitic nature. This attack comes as the Community Security Trust (CST), a Jewish charity aimed at protecting the community from anti-Semitic attacks, reports a 58% increase in anti-Semitic attacks per month in the UK.[7]


CTG is on HIGH alert for the safety of Jewish communities following the vehicle-ramming and stabbing attack at Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue. This attack will ALMOST CERTAINLY exacerbate the fear the Jewish communities feel regarding physical attacks following the rise of antisemitism. The attack being declared as a terrorist attack will VERY LIKELY raise anxiety felt within England regarding personal safety. This anxiety will LIKELY prevent individuals from physically representing their religion through clothing, headwear, or jewelry to protect themselves against targeted hate crime attacks. The use of a vehicle and a knife in the attack ALMOST CERTAINLY demonstrates the accessibility of weapons and the difficulty in tracing knives, which potential copycats could take advantage of.


Introduction 

On October 2, Jihad Al-Shamie reportedly attacked the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Middleton Road, Crumpsall, Manchester, North West England Region, England.[8] GMP responded to initial reports of “a car being driven towards members of the public, and one man had been stabbed” at 0931 local time.[9] Eyewitnesses stated a vehicle "just sort of rushing past and driving straight for the members of the public… The man was just running out with a knife, and he just started going on a bit of a rampage. It's quite terrifying to be completely honest."[10] At 0934, firearm officers arrived at the scene as more reports detailed that the attacker had stabbed the synagogue’s security officer.[11] GMP confirmed the attack as a major live incident and  declared “Plato,” a code word used to coordinate emergency services’ responses to large-scale incidents.[12] English authorities mobilized several emergency units, including a Special Air Service (SAS) CT aircraft[13], and the North West Ambulance Service dispatched multiple vehicles to the scene, including specialized personnel, the Hazardous Area Response Team, and an air ambulance.[14] At 0938 local time, Manchester police officers shot and killed the alleged suspect.[15] Gareth Tonge, an eyewitness, stated, "Within seconds, the police arrived, they gave him a couple of warnings, he didn't listen so they opened fire… the man holding the knife then went down on the floor… The man then started getting back up and they [the police] shot him again."[16] Authorities deployed a bomb disposal unit at the scene as the suspect was wearing a body vest that resembled an explosive device.[17] Footage of the suspect outside the synagogue wearing this vest has circulated on social media channels, creating fear of further possible attacks.[18]


GMP has confirmed two people have been killed,[19] with four victims currently hospitalized, among whom three are seriously injured from vehicular injuries and stab wounds.[20] A large number of worshippers were present at the moment of the attack to celebrate Yom Kippur, the most important Jewish holiday. Due to the work of the security officers located outside the synagogue and the quick GMP response, which prevented the suspect from gaining access, authorities held worshippers inside the synagogue until securing the area and evacuating the attendees.[21] Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor of the Counter Terrorism Police officially designated the attack as a terrorist incident, with the Counter Terrorism taking over the investigation. GMP has declared that there is no risk to the public, while advising the public to avoid the incident area.[22] The CTP believes that the identity of the offender is Jihad Al-Shamie, a 35-year-old British citizen of Syrian ancestry,[23] but a formal identification is still lacking. BBC News has reported that Al-Shamie is believed to have gained British citizenship as a child.[24] Police detained three other suspects in relation to the attack.[25][26]


English PM Keir Starmer flew back from the European Council Summit in Copenhagen to chair an emergency Cabinet Office Briefing Room (COBRA) meeting following the attack and announced the immediate deployment of additional law enforcement across the country to ensure the security of the Jewish community.[27] The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and the London Metropolitan Police have communicated that additional resources will patrol synagogues, Jewish community venues, and neighborhoods with a significant Jewish population, enhancing  those mobilized in advance for the Jewish festivities.[28][29]


Jewish population in Manchester is nearly 30,000, making it the second largest Jewish community in England after London.[30] The UK Home Office has noticed that religious hate crimes have increased a 25% in the year from March 2023 to March 2024 in England and Wales, with 10,483 attacks driven by religious motives. Reportedly, 33% of those targeted Jewish communities, marking a more than double increase. The peak of attacks occurred in October, a month that includes the Yom Kippur celebrations and the beginning of the last Israel-Hamas and Palestine war.[31] The main offense categories were public fear, alarm or distress, and criminal damage and arson.[32] CST has stated that before October 7, on average, there were 161 anti-Semitic incidents a month. In 2025, this is calculated at 254 incidents, a 58% increase.[33] In the first half of 2025, 87 incidents against the Jewish-based population were related to synagogues and 257 to other Jewish organizations. From the total of 1,521 antisemitic events in 51%, Israel-Palestine conflict references are traceable.[34]


Since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas conflict, attacks on Muslim communities have seen a 13% increase between March 2023 and March 2024, topping 3,866 offences. Two in five religious crimes in the UK targeted Muslim people.[35] In England, religious hate against Muslim people is deeply intertwined with rampant anti-immigrant sentiments. On September 13, far-right groups organized the largest anti-immigration protest to date in London, with over 100.000 participants. Protesters clashed with the police, leaving 24 officers injured.[36]


Analysis

The current police surge will very likely develop into a sustained and more integrated protective posture around Jewish institutions in England, including synagogues, schools, and community centers. Visible armed patrols will likely heighten public anxiety and sharpen group boundaries, as their presence signals an exceptional threat, likely creating public perceptions of unequal policing if other vulnerable groups see their concerns receive less visible protection. If communities expect permanent protective measures, they will likely normalize armed security in religious sites and increase reliance on police, likely redefining the relationship between faith communities and the state by reinforcing the perception that the state has a direct obligation to protect every religion.


The vehicle-and-knife profile used in the attack will likely disclose a set of deliberate tactical choices that define a threat pattern, likely minimizing detectability while permitting high impact. Future attackers will very likely adopt vehicles and knives as preferred modus operandi since they will remain widely accessible, easily concealed, and difficult for authorities to trace, allowing preparations to blend into everyday activity. These weapons very likely require little technical skills, allowing rapid execution and creating a low logistical signature, likely reducing the chance of early detection. This threat pattern will likely compel authorities to focus on real-time surveillance and protective security at potential targets, sustaining a public sense of vulnerability and reinforcing pressure on the state to guarantee safety against threats that are difficult to fully control and foresee.


The videos and images circulating online minutes after the police shot the attacker will almost certainly spread across social media, likely hindering the efforts by the GMP and CT Police to limit their diffusion and funnel all available visual evidence through law enforcement. The belt worn by the attacker in the circulating videos will very likely induce some people to claim that he was wearing an explosive device, despite no confirmation from authorities, likely increasing fear and public concern about the possibility of future similar attacks. The physical appearance of the suspect will very likely trigger speculations on his nationality and religious affiliation, almost certainly leading to claims by anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant parts of the public that the attacker was a Muslim immigrant even before his official identification.


A major attack against Jewish communities or institutions in England will unlikely occur in the short term due to the authorities' measures to address further antisemitic attacks at Jewish institutions or celebrations. Anti-Semitic events will very likely increase in the final months of 2025. Attacks on the digital sphere will likely increase, provoking a major public debate related to religious hate, polarizing public opinion. Anti-Muslim incidents are very likely to increase in the next weeks, in both digital and material spheres. The majority of further religious-based attacks would likely be physical assaults or vandalism offenses.


This event will very likely prompt anti-immigrant sentiments among nationalist sectors of the English population, with a roughly even chance that these attitudes will lead to widespread protests across the country. Immigrant communities and Muslim people will likely risk suffering harassment, with a roughly even chance that immigration centers, immigrant communities, and mosques will receive violent threats. Conservative political leaders with extremist views, such as Nigel Farage, will very likely exploit this event to attack the immigrant population in England, particularly those of Arab origin, almost certainly aiming to undermine the current government and its immigration policy.


The public will very likely blame the surge of antisemitism on the Israeli war in Gaza, with conservative media outlets almost certainly accusing pro-Palestine activists of spreading hate and threatening the English Jewish population. Such media outlets will very likely claim that the government has inadequately ensured the security of the Jewish community while excessively tolerating the pro-Palestinian movement, likely urging Starmer to contain anti-Israeli protests and police hate speech online. The Israeli government will very likely endorse this position, likely exploiting the event to criticise the recent decision by the English government to recognise the State of Palestine.


The proximity of the attack to other major Jewish holidays and to the anniversary of the 2023 Hamas attack against Israeli civilians on October 7 will very likely increase concerns over the security of the Jewish community in the upcoming weeks. Despite the high alert for the possibility of copycat attacks against religious centers and the increased law enforcement patrolling, risks for Jewish people to be individually targeted around October 7, including in public places, remain likely. There is a roughly even chance that this event will be part of a series of orchestrated attacks against the Jewish community planned as revenge for the civilian victims of the ongoing Israeli offensive in Gaza.


Recommendations

The Counterterrorism Group (CTG) recommends major police deployments to religious institutions, both Jewish and Muslim, across England. The Home Office, in coordination with local police, should pre-position personnel, overtime budgets, and mutual-aid resources in anticipation of rising incidents. Authorities should take major security measures in London, as it has the largest Muslim and Jewish communities. English and European authorities should enhance CT policing cooperation to address risks and possibilities of attacks based on religious extremist violence in crowded and public places. European security and police institutions should deploy units at major religious synagogues and mosques across the continent, and issue a warning to the public for potential individual attacks against Jewish and Muslim communities. Local police forces and municipal authorities should expand coverage and real-time analysis capacity and attempt to limit the spread of misleading information surrounding the attack by debunking false claims about the attacker, such as whether he was actually wearing an explosive belt, by providing clear information to the public as soon as the investigation allows.

Law enforcement should expand surveillance coverage around crowded spaces and religious sites and invest in rapid forensic response units to reduce attribution time when attackers use easily accessible weapons such as vehicles and knives. Authorities should increase cooperation with vehicle rental companies, transport services, and retail outlets to detect suspicious patterns of short-term rentals or bulk knife purchases. Increased coordination between police, community security organizations, and private guards should aim to clarify roles, prevent overlaps, and ensure accountability. The law enforcement and the government should develop a clear public communication strategy to explain security measures, counter misinformation, and reduce fear while maintaining trust between communities and authorities.


English authorities should monitor the evolution of hate speech against immigrants and people with migrant backgrounds in the country, especially on social media such as X and Telegram. Law enforcement should establish its presence in places that could become the target of hate crimes, such as immigration centers and migrants’ shelters, to deter potential hate crimes.


Law enforcement should be aware of the risk of violent confrontation during the pro-Palestinian protests organized this weekend between activists and counter-protesters. Authorities should monitor social media to detect early warnings of violent counter-protests being coordinated online, and devise measures to prevent contact between the two groups to avoid violent clashes.


Law enforcement should heighten monitoring of online and violent threats against Jewish and Muslim communities around October 7, and increase police deployment around previously targeted or threatened locations. The police authorities should encourage Jewish and Muslim citizens to report any threat or attack. CT Police should closely monitor known extremist individuals and networks for possible attacks against other Jewish religious institutions in the upcoming weeks.


CTG assesses that the current threat climate is HIGH given the rise of anti-Semitic attacks in England. As footage of the attacks and police response circulates online, this attack will very likely have a larger viewership through initial watches and reposts and result in increased hateful discourse online. This viewership and the dissemination of false information regarding the attack will likely result in anger and frustration, creating motivating factors for additional attacks.


The threat of anti-Semitic and retaliatory attacks against Muslim holy sites will likely persist for the foreseeable future, given the current global political environment involving the Israel-Palestinian conflict and perceptions of Jewish responsibility. Extremist attacks against religious communities will likely persist, with melee weapons being the most common attack vector in England, considering the easy access to melee weapons and law enforcement’s inability to track them. The attacker’s identity as a British-Syrian individual who gained citizenship as a child will very likely further domestic anti-immigration discourse, heightening tensions and leaving other immigrants susceptible to attacks.


Analysis indicates that there is a HIGH PROBABILITY of copycat-inspired and retaliation attacks on Muslim communities as anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim rhetoric continues to grow online. Planned anti-immigration protests will LIKELY experience the anger and frustrations felt from the attack, and will LIKELY become one of the motivating factors for counter-protestors. Increased police presence, including armed officers at these protests, will ALMOST CERTAINLY occur to prevent potential violent escalation and diffuse any tensions.   

[2] Major incident declared following incident on Middleton Road, Greater Manchester Police, October 2025, https://www.gmp.police.uk/news/greater-manchester/news/news/2025/october/major-incident-declared-following-incident-on-middleton-road/ 

[3] Update 21:10 2 Oct 2025 | Manchester Attack, Counter Terrorist Policing, October 2025 https://www.counterterrorism.police.uk/update-2110-2-oct-2025-manchester-attack/   

[4] Declaration of a terrorist incident in Manchester, Counter Terrorist Policing, October 2025, https://www.counterterrorism.police.uk/declaration-of-a-terrorist-incident-in-manchester/ 

[5] What We Know About The Manchester Synagogue Attack, BBC News, October 2025, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd63p1djgd7o 

[6] Statement from Chief Constable Sir Stephen Watson, Greater Manchester Police, October 2025, https://www.gmp.police.uk/news/greater-manchester/news/news/2025/october/statement-from-chief-constable-stephen-watson/

[8] Police name Manchester attacker who killed two at synagogue, BBC, October 2025, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpd93x0ql0do 

[9] Major incident declared following incident on Middleton Road, Greater Manchester Police, October 2025, https://www.gmp.police.uk/news/greater-manchester/news/news/2025/october/major-incident-declared-following-incident-on-middleton-road/ 

[10] What We Know About The Manchester Synagogue Attack, BBC, October 2025, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd63p1djgd7o 

[11] Major incident declared following incident on Middleton Road, Greater Manchester Police, October 2025, https://www.gmp.police.uk/news/greater-manchester/news/news/2025/october/major-incident-declared-following-incident-on-middleton-road/ 

[12] What We Know About The Manchester Synagogue Attack, BBC, October 2025, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd63p1djgd7o 

[13] Ibid

[14] Major Incident in Crumpsall, North West Ambulance Service, October 2025, https://www.nwas.nhs.uk/news/major-incident-in-crumpsall/

[15] Major incident declared following incident on Middleton Road, Greater Manchester Police, October 2025, https://www.gmp.police.uk/news/greater-manchester/news/news/2025/october/major-incident-declared-following-incident-on-middleton-road/ 

[16] What We Know About The Manchester Synagogue Attack, BBC, October 2025, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd63p1djgd7o 

[18] What we know about Manchester synagogue attack, BBC, October 2025, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd63p1djgd7o 

[21] Two dead in attack at UK synagogue on Yom Kippur, suspect shot dead, Reuters, October 2025, https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-police-respond-incident-outside-synagogue-manchester-2025-10-02/ 

[22] What We Know About The Manchester Synagogue Attack, BBC, October 2025, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd63p1djgd7o 

[23] Police name Manchester attacker who killed two at synagogue, BBC, October 2025, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpd93x0ql0do 

[24] What We Know About The Manchester Synagogue Attack, BBC, October 2025, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd63p1djgd7o 

[25] Update 21:10 2 Oct 2025 | Manchester Attack, CTP, October 2025 https://www.counterterrorism.police.uk/update-2110-2-oct-2025-manchester-attack/ 

[26] Statement from Chief Constable Sir Stephen Watson, Greater Manchester Police, October 2025, https://www.gmp.police.uk/news/greater-manchester/news/news/2025/october/statement-from-chief-constable-stephen-watson/

[27] Police declare terrorist incident as at least two killed in car and knife attack outside U.K. synagogue, NBC News, October 2025, https://www.nbcnews.com/world/united-kingdom/manchester-synagogue-stabbing-car-ramming-synagogue-police-rcna235117 

[29] @metpoliceuk, X, October 2, 2025, https://x.com/metpoliceuk/status/1973723502403350864 

[30] Manchester: 2 killed in synagogue car, knife attack, Deutsche Welle, October 2, 2025, https://www.dw.com/en/manchester-2-killed-in-synagogue-car-knife-attack/a-74214707 

[31] Hate crime, England and Wales, year ending March 2024, UK Government Office for National Statistics, October 2024, https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hate-crime-england-and-wales-year-ending-march-2024/hate-crime-england-and-wales-year-ending-march-2024

[32] Ibid

[33] “Antisemitic Incidents: January - June 2025,” Counter Terrorist Policing,  2025, https://cst.org.uk/data/file/e/6/Antisemitic%20Incidents%20Repora a t%20Jan-June%202025.1754315460.pdf 

[34] Ibid.

[35] Hate crime, England and Wales, year ending March 2024, UK Government Office for National Statistics, October 2024, https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hate-crime-england-and-wales-year-ending-march-2024/hate-crime-england-and-wales-year-ending-march-2024

[36] Police and protesters scuffle as 110,000 join anti-migrant London protest, Reuters, September 2025, https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/police-protesters-scuffle-110000-join-anti-migrant-london-protest-2025-09-13/ 

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