13 October 2023 , 17:42
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Jewish communities in north London have told how they have been living in fear since the Hamas terror attack in Israel one week ago tomorrow.
Shop owners say they feel scared to open up alone, synagogues are on “high alert” and some feel implored to hide religious clothing in public. It came as four Jewish schools in north London closed over security fears.
Speaking in Golders Green, Benjamin Till, the composer in residence at the New West End Synagogue, said: “Now when I get to synagogue I’m looking at all the exits. If they’re coming in at the front and the back I’ll go to the back right corner where there is an emergency exit. That’s how I would escape.
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Benjamin Till, composer in residence at New West End Synagogue (Philip Coburn /Daily Mirror)
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“I sing in the choir, we would be the first people to get shot. I feel terrified. That is not how I should be feeling.” North London religious bookstore owners Michelle and Jacob Sonnenfeld say customers are so scared they are making email orders rather than coming to the store as normal.
Michelle, 70, was in tears on Thursday evening over the prospect of opening the shop alone today. “The atmosphere is very tense. People do not know what to do or how to be,” she told the Mirror. “They are just scared. Synagogues are on high alert. Then you think about engagement parties and weddings. They are big events of around 300 people for us. They are now huge gatherings that could be targeted. This is how people are thinking.”
A man stands draped in the Flag of Israel (Philip Coburn /Daily Mirror)Her Israeli husband Jacob, 74, described how his father had Arabic friends in Gaza, saying they co-existed in relative peace until Hamas first arrived decades ago. In London he now feels he has to cover his religious head wear. “I’m getting on the Tube shortly and I will be wearing a hat to cover it,” he said.
He described how synagogues are completely full every night as communities come together to pray. Tensions are unmistakably high and there has been an increased police presence in the area this week. Barely a one minute walk from Golders Green train station, the impact of the horrors in the Middle East are immediately evident.
A 'kidnapped' sign stuck to a lamppost shows four-year-old Ariel (Philip Coburn /Daily Mirror)A “kidnapped” sign stuck to a lamppost tells of how Israelis Shiri Bibas, 33, and Yarden Bibas, 34, were taken by Hamas last weekend. Another shows four-year-old Ariel, also kidnapped. While two-year-old Aviv’s poster has been torn down along with several others.
On the corner of Golders Green Road, a man stands on a set of steps, draped in an Israel flag, shouting: “What side are you on? We are against terrorism.” A Muslim passer-by replies: “So are we.” Two police officers approach the man with the flag as a car drives by and a male in the passenger seat screams aggressively at the protester: “I am coming back.”
Posters for kidnapped people taken to Gaza in Goldens Green (Philip Coburn /Daily Mirror)Israeli flags have sold out this week, Michelle and Jacob said, as have requests for traditional Jewish clothing as the community comes together. “People are praying,” said Michelle. “They used to say ‘have a good weekend’ in Hebrew as they left the shop.
“They are not saying that today (Friday) because everybody knows nobody can have a good weekend because of the pain we’re suffering and the fear we feel. Customers now say one word as they leave - ‘peace’.”