At just after 8.30pm on Wednesday, after listening to the description of a father listening to his daughter’s last moments as her killers closed in, the congregation assembled at New North London synagogue heard a poem.
The Diameter of the Bomb, written in 1976 by the Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai, describes concentric circles of “of pain and time” after a deadly explosion, ending with the bleak lines: “And I won’t speak at all about the crying of orphans that reaches to the seat of God and from there onward, making the circle without end and without God.”
The congregation then bowed their heads in a moment of silent mourning.
Afterwards, they sat in quiet rows to listen to a son who described how he had last heard from his elderly mother, missing since Saturday, as she sought shelter from Hamas attackers who had overrun her kibbutz in the south of Israel.
Then came a message of support from Christian churches – including in Ukraine – and prayers for the wounded, for soldiers to return safely, for Israel and for peace.
“This evening is about sharing sorrow, worry, fear … and the heart of it is the value of life, all life,” said Jonathan Wittenberg, the senior rabbi of the Masorti Jewish community in the UK. “Hatred has to be called by its name … Hatred of Jews, like hatred of other people. The image of God is in us all.”
A lot of the 300 people who had come to the synagogue on a quiet road in the London suburb of East Finchley knew someone who died, was wounded or who had lost a close relative, friend or colleague in the terrorist attacks launched into Israel from Gaza by Hamas last Saturday. The death toll now stands at more than 1,300, mostly unarmed civilians.
Hamas has taken scores of Israelis into Gaza as hostages. Some were paraded about before Israel’s retaliatory airstrikes began. The fate of others is unclear. The plight of these was particularly shocking, several congregants said.
“That sense of being powerless, held captive, all these recall the Nazi Holocaust. This is the worst day in Jewish history since the Shoah,” Wittenberg said.
“People are feeling very vulnerable and very horrified but they are not feeling hate. No one wants people to die in Gaza in the midst of it. In a way, they are hostages of Hamas too. They are also helpless and it’s terrible.”
In the UK and elsewhere, the conflict has led to a surge in antisemitic incidents. The Community Security Trust (CST) reported that the number of antisemitic incidents in the four days from Saturday morning had increased by 324% compared with the same period last year. It said this figure was expected to rise further as newly reported incidents were verified.
The CST said: “Make no mistake, these are anti-Jewish racist incidents and hate crimes in which Jewish people, property and institutions are singled out for hate, including death threats and abuse … In many cases, the perpetrators of these disgraceful incidents are using the symbols and language of pro-Palestinian politics as rhetorical weapons with which to threaten and abuse Jewish people.”
The 89 incidents included six assaults, three cases of damage to Jewish property, 14 direct threats and 66 cases of abusive behaviour, including verbal abuse, graffiti, hate mail and online abuse. Most of the incidents took place in London and Greater Manchester.
In Golders Green, a well-known centre of the Jewish community a mile or so from New North London synagogue, the windows of a Kosher bakery were smashed.
The CST has recorded spikes in the number of antisemitic incidents during previous conflicts involving Israel and Gaza.
Within hours of the attack, the Metropolitan police said they had increased patrols in London “in order to provide a visible presence and reassurance to our communities”, while Suella Braverman, the home secretary, has urged chief constables to clamp down on any attempts to use flags, songs or swastikas to harass or intimidate Jewish communities.
At Jewish schools, extra security patrols have been deployed at the gates, and trips and after-school detentions have been cancelled.
Several schools said they had carried out “invacuation” drills, where pupils practise sheltering in safe areas or reinforced rooms in the event of a threat. Pupils have been told to avoid wearing identifying school uniform on public transport.
Many parents are considering withdrawing children from school temporarily.
One mother of two in London, who asked for anonymity due to security concerns, said: “Every time I send my kids to school my heart is in my mouth. This is the price we pay for wanting our kids to learn about their own culture in our own country.
“I’ve never felt this way before. It’s the news about what was done to the children in Israel [in the Hamas attacks]. I asked my friends: ‘Is this a Jewish thing?’ They said: ‘No, it’s a parent thing.’”
When they heard events in Israel compared to the Holocaust, a murmur of assent went through the congregation. Many others around the UK expressed similar sentiments to the Guardian.
Arron Ferster, a 38-year-old TV producer from Manchester, said: “My grandfather survived Auschwitz and in his testimony described babies being thrown and caught on bayonets by the SS, and that always struck me as unfathomable. But to know that a similar level of barbarism has taken place, and in of all places Israel – which was seen as a safe haven if, God forbid, we ever needed to get out of here – that brought home how strong Jew hate is in some places.”
Research by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research in London shows that about 2% of the population of Great Britain can be characterised as “hardcore” antisemites – defined as those believing multiple anti-Jewish tropes simultaneously – whereas 70% of the population is found to hold no anti-Jewish views at all.
However, a 2021 survey by the institute, conducted two months after the last war in Gaza, found that almost three-quarters of Jewish adults in the UK felt that non-Jews held them responsible for the actions of the Israeli government during the conflict, and that more than half said that public and media criticism of Israel at the time made them feel that Jews were not welcome in the UK.
Karine Barsam, 40, who joined the service at New North London synagogue on Wednesday, said: “The biggest concern is antisemitism and the impact it will have on the community, and that generally people just don’t understand what is happening [in Israel]. The level of tolerance for [antisemitism] is really shocking.”
The new conflict seems likely to intensify as Israel readies a possible ground invasion of Gaza to destroy Hamas.
Israel’s energy minister has said supplies of water, electricity and fuel to the Gaza Strip will be cut until the hostages are freed, and more than 1,500 people have been killed there by Israeli airstrikes and shelling since Saturday, according to local health authorities.
In 2014, the Israeli military suffered significant casualties when it entered Gaza in a far more limited operation than the one that now appears likely.
Many of the congregants at New North London synagogue had relatives in Israel who, as reservists, were now in uniform. When one speaker described how a friend – a 65-year-old woman who knew of the correct Jewish religious practices for preparing dead bodies – had been called up, a gasp of shock spread through the room.
“It sent chills through me … We are all feeling so vulnerable, so exposed. It was really important to me to be here tonight, among people who understand without me needing to explain,” said one congregant, who preferred to remain anonymous because “everything is so uncertain”.
The service ended with Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem.
Wittenberg said: “We are fearful of what the future holds for Israel and for those in Gaza who eschew violence and just want a better life for themselves and their children.
“As leaders we need to be reconcilers and calmers, even in the face of everything. That is the most important responsibility and challenge.”
