A deadly terrorist attack at Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester on the morning of Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calender, has left two people dead and three more with serious injuries. The attacker was also killed, shot by armed police multiple times after he refused to stay down and was reaching for what looked like a bomb.

First he was driving erratically, then crashed his car into the gates of the synagogue. He got out the car and began stabbing anyone he could with a knife. Then he sought to enter the synagogue while wearing what looked like explosives. Warnings from those outside led to the synagogue being barricaded closed. The armed police arrived and killed the attacker within 7 minutes of the first emergency call being made.

The last attack on a synagogue on Yom Kippur was in 2019 when the Halle Synagogue in Germany was attacked. This attack in Manchester comes after antisemitism, already at record levels since the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack in 2023, has again been rising. Of the ten social media platforms monitored by the Online Hate Prevention Institute, four of them were at their highest ever levels of antisemitism during September 2025.

The UK based platform BitChute, which as The Times noted a few years ago is known as the “far right YouTube”, is a video sharing platform that has seen a dramatic rise in antisemitism over the last few months. It is one of the platforms where antisemitism was higher in Septmeber 2025 than at any previous time.

Another platform where antisemitism in September 2025 was higher than it had ever been was Instagram. While traditional antisemitism such as claims of blood libel, deicide, and slurs were the most common form of antisemitism on both platforms, on Instagram the second most frequent form of antisemitism was the use of traditional antisemitism tropes but framed as being about Israel, Israelis, or Zionists. This is very different to BitChute where the second most common narrative invovled promoting the idea of a world Jewish conspiracy. The Instagram data showed more antisemitic narratives associated with the left and types of antisemitism found in the Muslim and Arab worlds.

Returning to Manchester, police say they are aware of the attackers identity, and have arrested two other suspects, but are not yet ready to release further details. The attack has been designated a terrorist attack by the UK government and security has been increased at synagogues across the UK.

The Online Hate Prevention Institute expresses our condolences and support to the families of those killed and to the entire UK Jewish community and the wider community that has been harmed through this terrorist attack. We also note the effectiveness of the UK police, their rapid response, their clear warnings, and their decisive action when those warnings were ignored. Without the effective actions of security, community members, passers by, and police, the number of fatalities could have been far higher.