Tuesday 19 Elul – Hundreds remember synagogue attack victims – ‘What a stupid question’: Trump rules out idea of nuking Iran & more…

The Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis and Communities Secretary Angela Rayner are among about 800 people attending a memorial event for the victims and survivors of last year’s Heaton Park synagogue attack.

Melvin Cravitz and Adrian Daulby were killed, and three others injured, as they tried to defend their place of worship from attacker Jihad al-Shamie on 2 October 2025.

A service of remembrance began at the synagogue in Manchester at 20:00 BST, with relatives of the bereaved and some of the survivors among the speakers.

Prior to the event, Rabbi Daniel Walker said the Jewish community feels less safe now than it did immediately after the attack.

He said rising antisemitism, combined with a lack of action to “deal with core problems”, had left many members of Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation – and British Jews more widely – feeling increasingly vulnerable.

Two seats remain empty for the service, bearing the names of Melvin Cravitz and Adrian Daulby.

Sherelle Dresner, representing the family of Melvin Cravitz, spoke of the “lonely” and “overwhelming” new world she and her family faced in the aftermath of the attack.

“I have heard this new existence be described by survivors and bereaved families of other terrorist attacks as a club that no-one wants to be a part of; a club that no-one would ever choose to belong to,” she said.

She said she had received antisemitic abuse and “these messages should worry us all, that there are people out there justifying his murder and blaming this on his religion”.

Dresner praised those who “put your own lives at risk” on the day to save others, including a woman who ran “towards danger” to help Melvin.

The chief rabbi, in his address to the service, said: “The attacker came here feeling positive, comfortable in his ways, encouraged and inspired by a tone of deep antisemitism within our society.

“We know so well how hateful thoughts can be translated into hate speech which, in turn, is only one step away from hate crime.”

UK Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis has warned British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband that an alleged government plan to ban trade with West Bank settlements risks causing greater harm than good to the country’s relations with its Jewish citizens and with Israel.

Last week, British media reported that new UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham is preparing to announce a complete trade ban on goods from Israeli West Bank settlements in response to Jerusalem’s plan for a major, controversial settlement expansion in the hot-button EI area of the West Bank.

The British Jewish community would view such a measure “with deep dismay at a time when the vilification of Jews, Judaism and the Jewish State has already reached unprecedented levels,” Mirvis wrote yesterday.

“The intended policy will not influence Israeli decision-making in the way the Government intends,” he continued. “Instead, it risks inflicting real harm across the region.”

Mirvis warned that there is a “clear danger” that a trade ban could “spiral into a de facto boycott of trade with Israel more broadly, damaging the long-term relationship between our two countries and threatening the livelihoods of tens of thousands of Palestinian workers.”

Asked whether he has ruled out using a nuclear weapon against Iran, US President Donald Trump says he has, calling the question “stupid.”

“I would never say that but the answer is yes. There is no reason for it… What a stupid question. They’re totally defeated militarily, and now I should use a nuclear weapon on them? What a stupid question,” Trump tells a reporter in the Oval Office.

Trump in the past has threatened to destroy Iran’s civilization, but hasn’t ever threatened to do so using a nuclear weapon.

More than 33,000 Israelis living abroad have expressed interest in returning to Israel to cast ballots in the upcoming election, citing a new effort called Fly&Vote that seeks to facilitate those trips.

Israel allows absentee voting only in rare circumstances, so Israeli expats who wish to vote need to make their way back to Israel for election day on October 27.

Fly&Vote, a project of a US-based nonprofit called the America-Israel Democracy Coalition, says it does not endorse any party or candidate, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened legal action against the effort, based on the belief that Israelis living abroad are likely to support opposition parties.

The nonprofit says it is not covering the cost of the flights, but it is organizing flights for Israelis who wish to vote. The group is advertising an $1,800 direct round trip from New York City to Tel Aviv, and it is also offering a $580 direct round trip from Lisbon to Tel Aviv.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accuses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of tricking Washington into going to war with the Islamic Republic, calling him a “serpent.”

“In Hebrew, Netanyahu openly crows that he suckered the US Administration into a war on Iran on behalf of Israel. Netanyahu explicitly laughs about how he ‘influenced’ America through 1,000 hours of airtime on US networks,” Araghchi says.

“In English, he praises POTUS’ leadership. Serpent,” he says.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again claims the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack would not have happened as it did if security chiefs woke him up during the night, asserting that wartime protocols will ultimately substantiate his account.

Asked during an appearance whether October 7 would have happened had he been awakened before the early-morning invasion and massacre, Netanyahu replies: “You want the truth? Yes. It would have looked completely different. Completely different, I think.”

“But I think that one day we will see all the protocols,” he adds, claiming that State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman was astonished after reviewing relevant material, suggesting the senior official investigating the government’s failures surrounding October 7 was sharing material with the leader of that government. “When all those protocols come out, you will know the truth,” Netanyahu says.

Returning to the question later, Netanyahu says: “You asked me what would have happened if they had woken me up — it would not have happened.”

“I’m not telling you that nothing would have happened. [Hamas] had prepared it,” he continues, blaming the failure in part on the security establishment’s prewar “conception” that Hamas was deterred, which he seeks to distance himself from.

“There was never any underestimation [on my part]…As for [Hamas’s] desire to destroy us, [to underestimate] that is such a disconnect from reality,” Netanyahu asserts.

Asked why he therefore opposes a state commission of inquiry into the failures surrounding October 7, Netanyahu claims the outcome of such an inquiry would be “predetermined.”

He says he instead favors “an equal one: half opposition, half coalition,” asking: “What could be fairer than that?”

For the UK Jewish Orthodox Community
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Erev Shabbos

To advertise click here or [email protected]:Subscribe to our news

Unsubscribe

The email was sent to [email protected]