Jihad al-Shamie, a Syrian immigrant who carried out a deadly Islamic terror attack at a synagogue in Manchester, England, on Yom Kippur, was on police bail for an alleged rape when he struck. The attacker, granted British citizenship in 2006, killed two Jewish men and seriously injured three others during the assault, which involved a vehicle ramming followed by a knife rampage. Police shot al-Shamie dead at the scene, unintentionally injuring two of his victims, one fatally.
Al-Shamie’s father, Faraj al-Shamie, posted online praising Hamas after their October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which left over 1,200 dead and saw hundreds of hostages taken, including women, children, and the elderly. On the day of the massacre, Faraj called Hamas “Allah’s men on earth” and wrote, “May God protect Palestine and its heroic people.”
Reform Party leader Nigel Farage condemned the attack as a symbol of “broken Britain,” noting pro-Palestinian flags appeared in London, Glasgow, and other cities shortly after the incident. He criticized Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government for “emboldening these people” by recognizing ‘Palestine’ two weeks prior. Investigations into al-Shamie’s background and the Manchester attack remain ongoing.
