UK Yom Kippur hero weighing Israel move due to antisemitism

“It would be really upsetting to leave Manchester…but I can’t bring my kids up in this environment,” says Yoni Finlay, who was wounded during a Yom Kippur terror attack.

By World Israel News Staff

A man who heroically prevented a terrorist from entering a UK synagogue on Yom Kippur says antisemitism in his home country has become so severe that he is considering moving his family to Israel for safety.

Yoni Finlay, 39, a Manchester native, was accidentally shot and wounded by police while defending a local synagogue from Jihad Al-Shamie, a Syrian-born terrorist who attempted to murder worshippers on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.

Two Manchester Jewish men — Adrian Daulby, 53, and Melvin Cravitz, 66 — were killed in the attack, while Finlay and two others were wounded.

Despite being hailed as a hero by supporters of Jews and Israel for attempting to stop Al-Shamie’s rampage, Finlay said he no longer feels safe in the UK.

Finlay, who is divorced, told a UK newspaper that he is weighing a move to Israel with his ex-wife and their four children so they can grow up in an environment where they will not be persecuted for being Jewish.

“It would be really upsetting to leave Manchester. This is my home town. I am Mancunian. But I can’t bring my kids up in this environment,” Finlay told the Sunday Times.

He described “so much anger and so much hate” directed at the British Jewish community and said the atmosphere in the country has changed dramatically.

“It’s become hard to recognize the UK any more, with the [pro-Palestinian] hate marches and the chanting. It’s very difficult,” he added.

Finlay linked the Yom Kippur terror attack to increasingly unhinged antisemitic rhetoric and protests in the UK, arguing that the hostile climate encourages violence against Jews.

“People being angry at Israel shouldn’t turn that into hatred of Jews. I have said this again and again: words have impact, and actions have consequences. And this sort of terrorist attack is the consequence.”