Roger Johnson,<\/span>North West<\/span>and<\/span><\/p>\n Dan Wareing,<\/span>North West<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n The rabbi of the Manchester synagogue where worshippers were killed in a knife attack has told of the fear and trauma he still feels.<\/p>\n Rabbi Daniel Walker was among those inside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue when Jihad Al-Shamie rammed it with his car and then attacked people who were attending on 2 October 2025.<\/p>\n The attack left two men dead and three others seriously injured. <\/p>\n The rabbi said the attack, which happened on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish religious calendar, made this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day “more poignant”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Holocaust Memorial Day is held on the same day every year, marking the liberation date of the largest Nazi concentration camp complex, Auschwitz-Birkenau, on 27 January 1945.<\/p>\n “In the shadow of what happened here, there was the Bondi Beach attack<\/a> in Australia, and there was also the attempted terrorist attack in this area that went to trial<\/a>,” Rabbi Walker told the BBC.<\/p>\n “That’s why it is been more poignant at the moment.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Rabbi Walker said: “I see these things as a continuum of hatred towards Jewish people.<\/p>\n “We all wish Holocaust Memorial Day would be where we remember one tragic event, but the hatred hasn’t gone away.<\/p>\n “We’re still being murdered, injured and attacked in the name of this hatred.”<\/p>\n Al-Shamie, 35, attacked the synagogue with his car before stabbing worshippers, including Melvin Cravitz, 66. <\/p>\n Adrian Daulby, 53, was unintentionally killed by a bullet from an armed response officer’s weapon as police shot at Al-Shamie. <\/p>\n Rabbi Walker was one of the men who, like Mr Daulby, had been barricading the doors to stop Al-Shamie getting in before police shot the attacker dead. <\/p>\n The synagogue reopened within days of the attack, and it has now returned to providing its full programme of services.<\/p>\n “It doesn’t feel as if it has been four months,” Rabbi Walker said.<\/p>\n “Most of us are definitely still struggling. There is still a lot of trauma, and there is still fear.”<\/p>\n However, he said his congregation had shown “resilience and positivity” since that day.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Rabbi Walker also highlighted the progress made in growing interfaith relations.<\/p>\n “After the attack we received so much support from all faiths, and people of no faith.<\/p>\n “But we still need to do more, because there were also expressions of the opposite of support.”<\/p>\n He described feeling a sense of duty to make sure “the world becomes a better place”.<\/p>\n “The battle isn’t won,” he said.<\/p>\n “We need to invest in that, to bring a sense of togetherness within our society.<\/p>\n “We will never forget, but we also want to make sure the moral adjustments we need to make sure it never happens again.<\/p>\n “Antisemitism is a stain on society, and prejudice is a stain because it isn’t just a Jewish problem.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"BBC](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/9099\/live\/667b26c0-faef-11f0-adda-0755af0bac4f.jpg.webp\")
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