Following the attack on the Congragation Beth Israel Synagogue in Texas by a 44-year-old man, Malik Faisal Akram, Campaign Against Antisemitism, a British charity, said that the fact that the perpetrator came from the United Kingdom ‘’raises very serious questions for British authorities, including whether Mr Akram was encouraged or supported by local elements who may pose a continuing threat to the Jewish community or the wider public.’’
44-year-old Akram from Blackburn was not living in the United States but had recently travelled there before carrying out the attack on the synagogue in Colleyville on Saturday, according to Sky News.
The man who shot dead by the FBI after taking four people hostage, including a rabbi, at the synagogue.
‘’That a ‘Blackburn Muslim Community’ Facebook page purporting to represent the local Muslim community published a now-deleted post calling for ‘the Almighty’ to ‘bless him with the highest ranks of Paradise’ demands an urgent investigation. We are looking into who operates the page and alerting local law enforcement,” Campaign Against Antisemitism.
Akram entered the synagogue during Sabbath services, making threats against the congregation and holding them hostage, demanding the release of Aafia Siddiqui, who is currently serving an 86-year prison sentence in Texas.
In comments that could be heard on a live stream of the synagogue service that was cut off during the incident, Akram could be heard speaking in a northern English accent and claiming that he had a bomb and that he would not leave the synagogue alive.
Following a standoff, the authorities raided the synagogue, killing Akram and freeing the hostages.
Siddiqui, who is suspected of having ties to al Qaeda, is convicted of two counts of attempted murder, armed assault, using and carrying a firearm, and three counts of assault on US officers and employees. Upon her conviction, raising her middle finger in court she shouted: “This is a verdict coming from Israel, not America. That’s where the anger belongs.”
Siddiqui had refused to work with a legal team provided to her by the Pakistani embassy on account of them being Jewish, and she had also demanded that jurors be subject to some sort of genetic testing to assess whether they were Jewish.
In a letter to former US President Obama, Siddiqui wrote: “Study the history of the Jews. They have always back-stabbed everyone who has taken pity on them and made the ‘fatal’ error of giving them shelter…and it is this cruel, ungrateful back-stabbing of the Jews that has caused them to be mercilessly expelled from wherever they gain strength. This why ‘holocausts’ keep happening to them repeatedly! If they would only learn to be grateful and change their behaviour.”
Campaign Against Antisemitism said it is investigating who operates the “Blackburn Muslim Community” Facebook page and alerting local law enforcement
Greater Manchester Police announced Monday that two teenagers were detained in south Manchester in connection tot he synagogue attack.
The Metropolitan Police’s counter-terrorism unit says it is also “liaising with US authorities and colleagues from the FBI”.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he “absolutely stands in solidarity with the Jewish community, both in the UK and indeed in Texas”.
His official spokesman said: “This was a terrible and anti-Semitic act of terrorism.