'Words of sympathy are important, but they are not enough'

MARK ADLESTONE OBE - Chair of the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester & Region writes for the M.E.N. following last week's synagogue attack.

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ANTISEMITISM has always been the canary in the coalmine.

It is the first sign that there is a profound sickness in society and over the last two years our country has felt broken.

I was privileged to grow up in a tolerant, open minded and fair society but in recent years there has been a dark narrative pervading across the UK.

Politicians and community leaders currently talk about reassurance. However, we cannot be reassured.

Our community and people known personally to me endured pure evil when an Islamic extremist sought to murder British Jews because they are Jews. We have spoken about our grief, trauma and anger, but there is also a remarkable resilience.

This is not new for the Jewish community. In living memory, we had a genocide committed against us where six million innocent people were murdered because they were Jews.

History is littered with other such atrocities.