Manchester’s Jewish community praises police for foiling gun plot

Jewish leaders have praised the work of police and an undercover operative who helped foil a gun attack to cause “untold harm” to the community.

Walid Saadaoui, 38, and Amar Hussein, 52, were found guilty at Preston Crown Court after arranging for guns to be smuggled into the UK as part of an “ISIS-inspired plot”.

They were caught by revealing plans to a third man, known to them as Farouk, who they thought shared their extremist views but was an undercover operative.

Raphi Bloom, of the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester, thanked Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and the security services after the pair’s conviction for “tireless work… to keep our community safe”.

Mr Bloom said: “What we actually need to do is to address the root cause of what is driving the radicalisation of people here in the United Kingdom who want to target the Jewish community.

“The government and the Charity Commission, in our opinion, have been far too slow to tackle this extremism, and if they don’t, these attacks will be planned and will be carried out again and again.”

He added that was “a grave, grave threat to the Jewish community in Greater Manchester and the UK”.

In response, the Security Minister Dan Jarvis condemned “vile antisemitic terrorist attacks that target Jews simply because they are Jews” including the “horrific attack on our Jewish community in Manchester on Yom Kippur, and most recently at a Chanukah celebration in Sydney”.

He said: “Antisemitism will never have any place in our society and we are absolutely determined to stamp it out wherever it exists.

“We stand in solidarity with Jewish communities here and everywhere.”

Jarvis also praised the police and the Crown Prosecution Service stating “their work has saved lives and made all of us safer”.

The Charity Commission has been contacted by the BBC for comment.

Greater Manchester Chief Constable Sir Stephen Watson also joined in praising the police and counter-terror operation to ensure “the terrorists’ vicious antisemitism did not manifest in the destructive way they intended”.

“Throughout this trial, it was clear that the offenders’ hatred towards our Jewish community knew no bounds.

“They sought to bring slaughter to the innocent, but the outstanding dedication and commitment of our people ensured that this could not happen.”

He added: “I hope today’s verdict provides comfort and reassurance to our Jewish community and to all the people of Greater Manchester that justice has been served.”

GMP said the main instigator Saadaoui, of Abram in Wigan, had plotted to carry out what “could potentially have been the deadliest terrorist attack in UK history”.

Saadaoui came to the attention of the authorities when he used 10 Facebook accounts, none of which were in his own name, to spread a torrent of Islamic extremist views.

Farouk was deployed to gain his trust online and later in person.

Saadaoui used one of his fake accounts to join the Facebook group of the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester which contained details of a “March Against Antisemitism” held in the city centre on 21 January last year which thousands attended.

Days later he told Farouk: “Here in Manchester, we have the biggest Jewish community.

“God willing we will degrade and humiliate them (in the worst way possible), and hit them where it hurts.”

He recruited fellow IS sympathiser Hussein, a Kuwaiti national, who worked and lived at a furniture shop in Bolton, Greater Manchester, to assist his plans.