‘Scandal’ Manchester, other UK Jews thinking of emigrating, Conservative leader says

Kemi Badenoch, leader of the opposition and of the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom, said on Saturday that she visited Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation, the Orthodox synagogue that was the site of a terrorist attack, in which two Jews were killed, on Yom Kippur.

“The naivety of those who believe this will all go away with warm words is also taking our country down a dark path. This hand-wringing has a cost,” she stated. “Before the visit, I also spoke to the Prestwich Hebrew Congregation. The strength of Manchester’s Jewish community in the face of evil is humbling.”

The Conservative leader noted that Jews have been part of Manchester for more than two centuries.

“It is a scandal that many in Manchester and beyond are considering leaving our country,” she stated. “For generations after the Holocaust, the world said ‘never again.’ Never again would we allow Jews to be hunted, terrorized or live in fear because of who they are. Those words ring hollow today.”

Just as Jews introspect on Yom Kippur and seek to understand how they can improve, Badenoch said that the United Kingdom, as a nation, must do the same.

“How did we let hatred fester again on our streets?” she said. “There are many causes: Islamism, media bias in reporting the war in the Middle East, the inability of authorities to go after serial wrongdoers while instead focusing on minor infractions of the law-abiding population and so much more.”

She said that “terror-supporting hate marches must stop” and that the government “must abandon its dangerous ‘Islamophobia’ definition.”

“We need a wholesale new approach to tackling misinformation and bias in our media,” she said. “We’ve tolerated this poison for too long, because too many politicians have been too weak or too cowardly to even say what they see, let alone confront it.”

“We will stand with our Jewish friends, not just in sympathy, but in strength,” she added. “We pray for the recovery of the victims still in the hospital, and we mourn the loss of Adrian Daulby and Melvin Cravitz. May their memories be a blessing.”