As we at Birmingham Race Impact Group reflect on the recent antisemitic attack at Heaton Park Synagogue in north Manchester, we are appalled and grieved by this act of hatred. To target a community at prayer during one of the most sacred moments in the Jewish calendar is not only an attack on Jewish people but also an assault on the values of dignity, belonging, and respect that hold our society together.
At BRIG, we are clear: antisemitism is racism, and it has no place in our communities. Incidents like this remind us that the fight against racism is urgent and lived, not abstract. What happens in Manchester matters here in Birmingham, and we stand in full solidarity with Manchester’s Jewish community and with Jewish people everywhere.
Solidarity must mean action. We call on civic leaders, institutions, and communities to challenge antisemitism wherever it arises and to work together to dismantle the systems and cultures that allow racism of any kind to persist.
BRIG will continue to work for an anti-racist Birmingham and an anti-racist Britain—where no group is left isolated in the face of hate, because an attack on one is truly an attack on us all.
