Britain's interior minister, Shabana Mahmood, said on Friday that she had been disappointed to see pro-Palestinian protests take place on Thursday evening, just hours after the deadly attack on a Manchester synagogue.
The joint car ramming-and-stabbing attack killed two and wounded multiple others at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue, on Middleton Road, Crumpsall.
"I was very disappointed to see those protests go ahead last night," Mahmood told Times Radio. "I think that behavior is fundamentally unBritish ... I think it's dishonorable."
"I would call on everybody who is considering protest in the next day or two to just take a step back and to show some humanity and some love towards a community that is grieving," she added.
Mahmood also said that the government would step up its efforts to tackle antisemitism in the country following the deadly attack.
UK police urge cancellation of pro-Palestinian protest
Following the minister's call for those planning a pro-Palestinian protest to take a "step back," British police on Friday urged organizers of such a protest in London this weekend to cancel or postpone the event.
"The horrific terrorist attack that took place in Manchester yesterday will have caused significant fear and concern in communities across the UK, including here in London," the Metropolitan Police said on X/Twitter.
Police said they wanted to deploy every available officer to protect communities but were instead having to prepare for a gathering of more than 1,000 people in London's Trafalgar Square on Saturday in support of Palestine Action, an organization that was banned under anti-terrorism laws in July.
"By choosing to encourage mass law breaking on this scale, Defend Our Juries (protest organizers) are drawing resources away from the communities of London at a time when they are needed most," the police said.
'Terrorism only brings more terrorism'
"Israel grieves with the Jewish community in the UK after the barbaric terror attack in Manchester," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday following the attack. "Our hearts are with the families of the murdered, and we pray for the swift recovery of the wounded. As I warned at the UN: weakness in the face of terrorism only brings more terrorism. Only strength and unity can defeat it."
President Isaac Herzog spoke with Mark Adlestone, chair of the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester, and expressed his heartfelt sorrow over the attack, sending his prayers and condolences to the victims and their families.
"The horrific scenes in Manchester today are utterly devastating," Herzog wrote in a post to X/Twitter. "This vile act of terror against the Jewish community, against worshippers at prayer, on the holiest day of the year for Jews, is a crime which must be condemned by all."
Israeli MK Avigdor Liberman also condemned the attack, calling on "all Jews of the Diaspora" to make aliyah. "The State of Israel is the home of us all," he wrote in his own post to social media. "Now is the time to make Aliyah to Israel. We are waiting for you here.
Mathilda Heller and Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.