The attack targeting the Jewish community at a Hanukkah event in Australia is “sickening”, Sir Keir Starmer has said.
At least 11 people were killed in the shooting at Bondi Beach on Sunday and a further 29 taken to hospital, according to police.
In a statement on X, the UK prime minister said: “The United Kingdom will always stand with Australia and the Jewish community.” He added that the government was working with Community Security Trust (CST), a Jewish security organisation, on the policing of Hanukkah events in the UK.
The Metropolitan Police said it was increasing its “police presence, carrying out additional community patrols and engaging with the Jewish community to understand what more we can do”.
“It is an awful reality that Jewish communities across the world continue to face a higher level of threat,” the force said in a statement.
“At a time when London’s Jewish communities are coming together to begin the celebration of Hanukkah, we know this attack will be the cause of not just terrible upset but also significant heightened concern about safety.”
In October, two people were killed in an attack at a synagogue in Manchester on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish religious calendar.
On Sunday, the UK’s Jewish Leadership Council (JLC) called on the police and government to protect events celebrating Hanukkah which begins this evening and lasts for eight days.
Hanukkah, also known as Chanukah, is a festival of light usually observed in December.
“We are devastated and angered that in Sydney, Jews appear to have been targeted once again for being Jewish,” the JLC said in a statement.
“We know that such hatred also exists in this country, as we are still reeling from the attack on a synagogue in Manchester on Yom Kippur.
“As we prepare to celebrate Chanukah over the next eight nights, we call on government and law enforcement to work with our community to protect Jewish life in the UK and ensure that events this week can go ahead safely. We must not let hatred extinguish the festival of light.”
The mayor of London Sadiq Khan said the Met would increase its visibility in Jewish communities ahead of Hanukkah events, while Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the government was working with CST on the policing of events across the UK.
Police Scotland said it was carrying out additional patrols around synagogues and other Jewish venues and was “actively communicating with faith leaders”.
Green Party leader Zack Polanski said he was on his way to a Hanukkah event which “should be a celebration but instead our community is once again mourning”.
“I will be thinking of everyone in Australia and those around the world in the Jewish Community who know this fear and loss. We stand with you.”
The Board of Deputies of British Jews said it had offered its support to its Australian partners and was in touch with the government to discuss the UK response.
“The scourges of terrorism and antisemitism are shared, international challenges and need concerted and determined action to defeat them,” it added.
Labour peer Lord Levy called for world leaders to “reflect – perhaps even have a conference call, a symposium, as to what is going on in the world”.
“Why is there this degree of antisemitism that is happening, whether it’s in Manchester, whether it’s in Australia… and mosques are being attacked as well,” he told BBC Radio 4’s The World This Weekend. “Why is this violence going on?”
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has advised any British people caught up in the shooting to contact the Sydney consulate for support.
Former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan posted on X that he had sheltered in a restaurant at Bondi Beach with others during the attack.
Vaughan, who is in Australia working as a media pundit for the Ashes, described the experience as “scary” and thanked the emergency services, saying his thoughts were with all those affected.
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