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 designed 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 discussed their plans with a man, known only as Farouk, who they thought shared their extremist views. He was actually an undercover operative.

After the men's conviction on Tuesday, Raphi Bloom, of the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester, thanked Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and the security services for "tireless work... to keep our community safe".

He 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, 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."

A Charity Commission spokeswoman said: "We take very seriously any alleged links between a charity and extremism or terrorism.

"Such links are abhorrent, and corrosive to the trust on which the charitable sector depends.

"We are robust in using the powers Parliament has granted us whenever required, dealing robustly with those who misuse charities for malign purposes including supporting extremism or terrorism.

"As the range of these threats grows, we know our powers must keep pace. We are in welcome dialogue with the government to ensure our powers and our corresponding resources are fit for the present and the future."

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

He added: "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.

"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 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 Islamist 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 Hussein, a Kuwaiti national, who worked and lived at a furniture shop in Bolton, Greater Manchester, to assist his plans.

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