Manchester synagogue terrorist was out on bail in rape investigation

The assailant’s father allegedly lauded Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and another 250 were taken hostage.

By Matthew Xiao, The Washington Free Beacon

The Syrian-born terrorist who launched a deadly attack outside a U.K. synagogue on Yom Kippur had been arrested on suspicion of rape earlier this year and was out on bail, according to the Guardian.

The perpetrator, Jihad al-Shamie, is also believed to have had criminal convictions, the Guardian reported.

Al-Shamie, who entered the United Kingdom as a child and became a British citizen in 2006, carried out the car ramming and stabbing attack outside a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.

The New York Times confirmed, citing an official at Greater Manchester Police, that authorities were investigating al-Shamie for rape and that he was out on bail at the time of the attack.

The 35-year-old terrorist also “had convictions for past crimes that were unrelated to terrorism,” the Times reported.

The Thursday attack left two dead and three injured. Police shot al-Shamie dead at the scene, arrested three individuals in connection with the incident, and declared it a terrorist attack.

Police investigation into al-Shamie’s background remains ongoing as of Friday afternoon.

The assailant’s father allegedly lauded Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and another 250 were taken hostage.

He praised Hamas’s attack as a “miracle,” saying “men like these prove they are Allah’s men on earth,” according to the Telegraph.

In 2012, someone using the name “Jihad Alshamie” sent threats to a Conservative member of Parliament over the lawmaker’s support for Israel’s military action in Gaza, though police have not confirmed whether that individual was the same man behind Thursday’s attack, the Times reported.