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'Jewish organisations require security guards in 2025': Manchester synagogue member
Oct 17, 2025
Shelagh Fogarty is joined by Raphi Bloom, a Jewish businessman from Manchester, who was on his way to the synagogue at the time of the terror attack in Manchester. The alleged attacker was shot dead by Greater Manchester Police and witnesses reported on Thursday afternoon that two men in handcuffs were seen being led away by officers. Emergency service crews responded within minutes to reports that a security guard had been stabbed outside the synagogue, and that several members of the public were injured after a vehicle was driven into pedestrians. Sir Keir Starmer is currently flying home early from a meeting of European leaders to chair Cobra, telling reporters he was "appalled" by the attack. The Prime Minister added that armed police will guard synagogues around the country. King Charles has led tributes, saying he and Queen Camilla are "deeply shocked and saddened" by the attack. "Our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by this appalling incident and we greatly appreciate the swift actions of the emergency services," he said in a statement. Listen to the full show on the all-new LBC App: https://app.af.lbc.co.uk/btnc/thenewlbcapp #shelaghfogarty #manchester #synagogue #keirstarmer #natashaclark #ukpolitics #uknews #LBC LBC is the home of live debate around news and current affairs in the UK.
View Video Transcript
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I can talk to Rafi Bloom now, Jewish businessman, board of the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester
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who, amongst other things, was on his way to this synagogue at the time of the incident
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Rafi, thank you for joining me today. I'm so sorry about these events. It must be horrific and something you've been warning about and talking about for a long time
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Absolutely. I was on my way there about 20 to 10 this morning when I received a phone call from a friend of mine
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who volunteers for security to say, stay away, don't come. There's been a terrorist attack at Heaton Park Synagogue
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I was there last night on the night of the eve of Yom Kippur
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So absolutely horrific that it happened at my synagogue. Many of my friends were in the synagogue at the time
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The rabbi is a very close friend of mine. But yes, it's something that we all feared would come to pass
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We as a Jewish community have faced a tsunami of Jew hate
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for two years since October the 7th, whether that has been physical attacks
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vandalism, online abuse, attacks, mistreatment in the NHS by pro-Palestinian medics, purity tests that people have to undergo
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in workplaces or creative spaces to confirm whether they're a Zionist, which basically means a Jew or not
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Our students on campus have been faced with incredible intimidation and violence and threats
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And this was the culmination of it. You know, we knew that this was going to happen and it happened. I didn't expect it to happen at my synagogue to my friends, but we've been caught
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we've been warning about this for two years. We've had hate marches on our streets every Saturday
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and I've nothing wrong with people being pro-Palestinian. Let me make that very clear. We live in a democracy. You can support the Palestinian cause, but when you walk up and down
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our streets with placards comparing Jews to Nazis or Israelis to Nazis and denying the Holocaust or
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claiming the Holocaust is happening again, and those areas are no-go zones for Jews on those days
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we have been warning about this and it came to pass in our city
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and it is shocking and tragic and our political leadership needs to take strong action now
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on what we've been warning about for two years There a long list to discuss with you Rafi Can I ask you firstly because you know the synagogue I sure all synagogues have to one degree or another security and an awareness
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that something like this or less than or worse than this might happen. In your particular synagogue
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it looks as though those who were inside were firmly closed inside because of security for
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the reasons that you've outlined. And the security guard, it looks as though did a sterling job and
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and, you know, possibly even paid with his life to, to keep that door from being opened
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What do you know? I mean, you don't want to give away security details. But what do you know about
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the level of awareness and security that you all have to have, that may well have translated today
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to the police coming so quickly because someone knew this place was a target and saw something
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suspicious and acted immediately? So your listeners may or may not be aware of this
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but every Jewish organisation in this country, schools, communal buildings, social care charities
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synagogues, all have to have security guards outside. They're all protected by large fences
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We're the only faith community in this country that has to have that on a regular basis. And I
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think that tells a very sad and telling story about the status of how Jews need to protect
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themselves in Great Britain in 2025. We have the Community Security Trust, which is an incredibly
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voluntary volunteer organization that looks after and trains volunteers to patrol the streets of
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Jewish areas, works very closely with the police and the counter-terrorism authorities to thwart
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both far-right and Islamist threats to our community. Going to your question about this
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synagogue, I know very well I did a volunteer shift 10 days ago during Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish
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new year on that very gate um the synagogue has a large gate and fence around it um there are two
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professional security guards paid security guards who stand on the outside and i pray to god they
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are okay after watching the scenes that i've seen yeah and then there are two volunteer members of
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the synagogue who do half an hour shifts each uh who wear stab vests and high jackets that are inside the gate to screen people coming in and to see that they should be there They know who they there But that just tells its own story doesn it You know and then the doors to the synagogue as you saw in that footage
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the black doors have actually been covered over years with a non-see-through covering so people can't see what's inside
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And they are closed. And as you enter the steps, the doors are open and allow for you to be in
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So there are multiple layers of security, which undoubtedly meant that this terrorist..
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Didn't get in. he was didn't get inside and cause more damage and as i and as i've been hearing on different
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news stations we're unaware at this stage whether he had an explosive device on him or not i believe
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there's just been a controlled explosion so whether that tells us something or not the police
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told us that was in his car that they did a controlled explosion yeah okay but the point is
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when you see what's around his waist you take it seriously and and even if it was not uh explosives
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it's it's designed to terrify people once he got in there yeah and from a personal level let me just
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let me just relate something that's really personal, is that my son-in-law was due to do
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that security shift this morning at that time. His wife said to him, oh, you know, we've got the
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kids off school. I know you're going to go to synagogue. Let's just sleep in a bit. Do one later on. And you did. And so you can see how this sort of terrorism can affect every single
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one of us, every single Jewish person in this country at any given time. And we've been saying
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this, you know, it's made many of us, it's made virtually the majority of British Jews in this
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country question whether we have a future in this country whether it's whether there's a future for
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our children or grandchildren you know when we have a an nhs doctor who's currently under
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investigation for calling the royal free hospital a cesspit of jewish supremacy you know how can any
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jewish person feel safe being treated by medics who they might think will mistreat them because
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of their political views so um can i ask you more about that because and west street was asked about
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this um uh before the the labor party conference um and he expressed his concern about it and so
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there's no place in the NHS for it. What do you want West Streeting to do about doctors, nurses
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any health worker that is online, openly anti-Semitic, and then pops into work and does or does not have a view about the Jew that they treating Well they need to be fired How can any Jewish person feel safe It just not possible
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You know, if they talk about boycotting Israel, how do we know that one in seven items of medication in the NHS
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are provided by Teva, an Israeli company? How do we know that they're going to prescribe
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the right medication for your condition? We just don't know that. There's just no trust
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And so, you know, the late Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks said that anti-Semitism is the lightest of sleepers
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And it's always been that, we know that. But on October the 7th, it awoke with a bang
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In fact, in the week after October the 7th, before Israel had even responded
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we saw an unprecedented increase in Jew hatred. It was almost like people didn't want to be left out
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So we have experienced this for two years. Who or what gave it the green light
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I agree with what you said, but who or what gave it the green light? I think it's always been there
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And I think that people want to target our community for the actions of a government two and a half thousand miles away
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And don't get me wrong. I'm you know, we are as a community overwhelmingly Zionistic
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You know, the vast majority of Jews and Jewish organizations, of institutions, of schools believe in Israel's right to exist as the nation state of the Jewish people and its right to self-defense
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But I can equally respect somebody who supports the Palestinian cause in this country
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That doesn't mean I'm going to go and attack them or abuse them or mistreat them. I want to be able to have a civil conversation with somebody and disagree civilly as a British citizen
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We are proud Mancunian Jews. We've been in this city for 150 years. Many of us have contributed in leadership roles to making the city the great one it is
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We're not going anywhere. As Menachem Begin said in 1982, I believe, we're not Jews with trembling knees
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But our political leadership has to take action now. This Jew hatred that has allowed to go unfested across a whole range of societies, places and institutions and organisations
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Enough is enough. If you can't treat Jewish people civilly, even if you disagree with their views on Israel and Gaza
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then you have no place in a public service role. You have no place in society and you need to be dealt with accordingly
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