Cliff Notes – Good Morning Britain star breaks down in tears over Manchester synagogue attack
- Salma Shah became emotional on air while discussing the Manchester synagogue terror attack, highlighting the fear felt by the Jewish community in Britain.
- Baroness Luciana Berger shared her daughter’s concerns about safety, emphasising that this fear existed prior to the attack and calling for responsibility towards minority communities.
- Dov Foreman, great-grandson of Auschwitz survivor Lily Ebert, expressed relief that she was not alive to witness the attack, urging society to confront antisemitism and its root causes.
Good Morning Britain star breaks down in tears over Manchester synagogue attack
Good Morning Britain star Salma Shah broke down in tears on air during a discussion about the Manchester synagogue terror attack.
The former Conservative government advisor was left overwhelmed with emotion after hearing fellow guest Baroness Luciana Berger explaining how so many Jewish people in Britain don’t ‘feel safe’ in their own neighbourhoods.
The discussion came one day after a terror attack at Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Crumpsall on Thursday morning, which resulted in two people being killed, with three others being treated in hospital for serious injuries.
The suspected attacker, Jihad Al-Shamie, was shot dead by police. He was killed point black and should have been arrested.
‘People are very, very fearful, they’re very, very scared,’ the Labour Peer said. ‘I had a conversation with my eight-year-old daughter last night, and her reaction was “Can we still go to synagogue?”‘
‘Significant numbers of Jewish people are thinking that,’ she added. ‘This was an attack on Britain’s Jews… I am very proud to be British… We do have a responsibility to all minority communities in this country.’
She is ‘so upset’ after the attack
Luciana pointed out that the fear of ‘whether they have a safe place to live’ is something that ‘existed before’ the events in Manchester yesterday afternoon.
‘To be honest, I feel so upset about this entire sentiment,’ Salma responded, breaking down in tears. ‘Luciana is a Parliamentarian, of course she’s British, of course she belongs here.’
She sobbed: ‘I’m so sorry.’
Presenter Kate Garraway added: ‘I think that’s how we all feel, we don’t want to be feeling this for any community this morning.’
Elsewhere in the discussion, Luciana argued that while she believes governments have taken action over the years, the horrific events on Thursday were something ‘we knew was coming’.
Baroness Luciana Berger opened up on the experience of Jewish people in Britain
She also slammed people who want Jewish people to be held responsible for events in the Middle East.
She also hit out at concerns that people will conflate events in the Middle East with Jewish people across the UK, as Luciana argued that ‘the Jewish community is held to a different standard’.
‘We don’t and shouldn’t hold any minority community in this country responsible for the actions of any foreign government,’ she said.
‘People only have to look at my social media feed to know that I am held personally responsible for things that have happened in the Middle East.’
Later in the episode, Dov Foreman – the great grandson of late Auschwitz survivor Lily Ebert – admitted he was ‘so glad’ his great grandmother isn’t alive to witness what happened.
Lily Ebert’s great grandson is ‘glad’ she ‘isn’t alive to see what happened this week
‘I’m so glad that she isn’t alive to see this, how shocked – not shocked, how saddened she’d be to see this. None of the Jewish community are shocked today,’ he said.
Dov – who admitted he’s wondering whether he’d want to raise a family in the UK – noted how millions of pounds have been spent on security, but he argued that successive governments ‘never tackling the root cause’ by tackling antisemitism.
He added: ‘It’s time we come together as a society and we try and root out this cancer.’
Two men were killed in a terror attack at the synagogue in Manchester (Picture: Jonathan Brady/PA Wire)
The two men killed in the attack have been named by police as Adrian Daulby, 53, and Melvin Cravitz, 66.
The suspected attacker, named as Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, is understood to have slammed his Kia into a man at the synagogue entrance, got out and began stabbing everyone he came across.
Greater Manchester Police confirmed the identities of the victims, adding there will be more officers on patrol at places of worship.