This is a problem for all of us to fix, not for Jewish people alone
In the wake of deadly attacks on Jewish communities across Britain — including a car ramming outside a Manchester synagogue that claimed two lives and a stabbing in Golders Green — religious and civic leaders from across the country's faith traditions have spoken with a rare, unified voice. The Together Coalition's open letter, signed by Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, and Zoroastrian leaders alongside figures from business and public life, frames antisemitism not as a burden for Jewish people to bear alone, but as a wound in the shared body of society. It is a moment that asks whether institutional solidarity, however sincere, can bend the arc of violence — and whether belonging, once declared, can be made to feel real.
- A Manchester synagogue attack killed two Jewish people and left three injured; weeks later, two men were stabbed in Golders Green in what police are treating as attempted murder.
- The frequency and severity of the attacks have shattered a familiar silence, forcing Britain's faith and civic institutions to reckon publicly with a violence they can no longer treat as peripheral.
- Leaders from five religious traditions — alongside voices from sport, media, and business — have signed a collective letter telling British Jews: this country belongs to you, and we will protect you.
- Chief Rabbi Mirvis welcomed the letter but pressed for more, urging the momentum to move beyond institutions into schools, workplaces, and social media where antisemitism quietly takes root.
- Muslim co-signatories drew explicit parallels between Jewish and Muslim experiences of faith-based hatred, positioning shared vulnerability as the foundation for genuine alliance against extremism.
Over recent months, a series of violent attacks has struck Jewish communities across Britain with alarming force. In October, a car ramming and stabbing outside a Manchester synagogue killed two people and seriously injured three others. More recently, two men — Shloime Rand, 34, and Moshe Shine, 76 — were stabbed in Golders Green, north London, in an attack being treated as attempted murder. A suspect in that case has also been linked to an assault on a Somali man in South London.
The cumulative weight of this violence has produced an unusual moment of collective response. The Together Coalition organised an open letter, signed by leaders from Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, and Zoroastrian traditions, alongside prominent figures from business, sport, and media. Addressed directly to the British Jewish community, the letter describes the recent attacks as "a nightmare from another time" and makes a pointed declaration: antisemitism is not a problem for Jewish people to solve alone — it belongs to all of society to fix.
What gives the letter its particular force is its language of belonging. The signatories tell British Jews plainly that this country is as much theirs as anyone else's, and that they will be protected from those who threaten them. Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis called it a powerful answer to extremism, while urging that the momentum extend beyond institutions into classrooms, boardrooms, and online spaces where hatred quietly persists.
Brendan Cox of the Together Coalition framed the letter as a direct refusal of the extremist strategy to divide communities. Julie Siddiqi of the UK Muslim Network, herself a signatory, drew a line of solidarity between British Jews and British Muslims — two communities that have each faced violence rooted in hatred of their faith — and called for alliance rather than separation. Whether this unified voice will prove sufficient to change the trajectory of antisemitic violence remains an open question, but the silence that once surrounded it has, for now, been broken.
Over the past several months, a series of violent attacks has targeted Jewish communities across Britain. In October, a car ramming and stabbing outside a Manchester synagogue killed two Jewish people and left three others seriously injured; one of the dead was struck by a police bullet. More recently, in Golders Green in north London, two men—Shloime Rand, 34, and Moshe Shine, 76—were stabbed in what authorities are treating as attempted murder. A suspect in that attack has also been charged in connection with an assault on a Somali man in South London.
This wave of violence has prompted an unusual moment of collective response. Religious leaders from across Britain's faith communities—Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, and Zoroastrian traditions—have joined with prominent figures from business, sport, and media to sign an open letter organized by the Together Coalition. The letter is addressed directly to the British Jewish community and frames the recent attacks in stark terms: "The spectre of Jewish people being stabbed at random in the street, killed defending their synagogues and Jewish infrastructure being firebombed feel like a nightmare from another time."
What distinguishes this letter is not merely its condemnation of the violence, but its framing of responsibility. The signatories reject the notion that antisemitism is a problem for Jewish people alone to address. "This is not a problem for Jewish people to have to respond to," the letter states. "This is a problem for all of us to fix." The message carries an explicit reassurance of belonging: "This country belongs to you as much as any of us. You are as British as all of us who call this country home. And we will do everything we can to protect you and your community from the extremists who threaten you."
Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis responded to the letter by calling it a "powerful riposte to the hateful extremists who have targeted the Jewish community." But he also sounded a note of urgency about what comes next. His hope, he said, is that the momentum established by these institutions will spread outward—into workplaces, boardrooms, classrooms, and across social media platforms. The implication is clear: institutional statements, however welcome, are only a beginning.
Brendan Cox, co-founder of the Together Coalition, framed the letter as a direct counter to extremist strategy. "Extremists are trying to divide us, to target minorities on the basis of their race or religion and to turn community against community," he said. "We won't let them." Julie Siddiqi, co-chair of the UK Muslim Network and one of the signatories, drew a parallel between the experiences of British Jews and British Muslims, both communities having faced "hatred and violence because of our faith." She positioned this shared vulnerability as the foundation for alliance. "We should be allies in tackling extremism," she said.
The letter represents a moment in which Britain's religious and civic institutions have chosen to speak with one voice against a specific threat. Whether that voice carries sufficient weight to alter the trajectory of antisemitic violence, or to shift the broader cultural conversation, remains to be seen. What is clear is that the violence has been severe enough, and frequent enough, to break through the usual silences and to demand a response that crosses the boundaries of community and faith.
Citações Notáveis
This is not a problem for Jewish people to have to respond to. This is a problem for all of us to fix.— Together Coalition open letter
My hope is that where these institutions have led, others will follow, in workplaces, boardrooms, classrooms and on social media, so that we can finally begin to tackle this scourge together.— Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why did it take a series of attacks to prompt this kind of interfaith response? Weren't these communities already in conversation?
They may have been, but there's a difference between dialogue and public solidarity. When violence reaches a certain threshold—when people are being killed outside synagogues—the stakes change. Silence becomes complicity.
The letter says this is "a problem for all of us to fix." But what does that actually mean in practice? How do you fix antisemitism?
That's the real question, isn't it. The Chief Rabbi himself pointed out that the letter is just the start. It has to move beyond institutions into everyday spaces—workplaces, schools, social media. It's about creating a culture where extremism is isolated rather than tolerated.
Julie Siddiqi talked about British Jews and Muslims being allies. Is that partnership genuine, or is it performative?
Both communities have experienced targeted violence and hatred. That's not performative—that's lived experience. Whether the partnership holds depends on whether these leaders follow through when the headlines fade.
Two people were killed in Manchester, two more stabbed in Golders Green. Why haven't these attacks gotten more attention?
They have gotten attention, but perhaps not the kind that breaks through national consciousness the way a single dramatic event might. What this letter does is connect the dots—it says these aren't isolated incidents, they're a pattern. That framing matters.
What happens if the extremists don't care about this letter?
They probably don't. But the letter isn't really for them. It's for the Jewish community, to say you're not alone. And it's for everyone else, to say this is our problem too. That shift in responsibility is what might actually change things.