There are 271,327 Jews in Britain (according to the 2021 Census). All have been horrified, hurt and saddened by the 7 October massacres in Israel and the taking of 224 hostages. Many will have affected friends and family.

Many of us, of different faiths or none, are equally horrified and saddened. We are particularly saddened by the increase in anti-Jewish prejudice and attacks here in Britain since then: verbal, online, the removal or defacement of posters showing the faces and names of the missing hostages, threats to Jewish schools, synagogues and other buildings, Jewish people feeling afraid to express their identity in public and so on.

We wish to express our solidarity and friendship with our fellow Britons, our sympathy with what you are feeling. We want to say to them: you are part of us, you are loved and valued and wanted, this is your home, you are safe here and will be protected. You are not alone.