John Swinney has said antisemitism in Scotland “cannot be tolerated” following the shooting at a hannukah event in Australia.
Fifteen people were killed in the attack in Sydney’s Bondi Beach on sunday after a father and son targeted celebrations on the first day of the festival.
members of the Jewish community said they were “considering their future” in Scotland due to increased abuse over their faith.
The first minister condemned the shooting as a “heinous attack” and said he would work with police to make sure Jewish people across Scotland were protected.
the gunmen have been named by Australian media as Sajid akram, 50, and his son Naveed Akram, 24.
The older man was shot dead by police,while the younger one is in a critical condition in hospital.
Jewish Community ‘Fearful’ After Glasgow Synagogue Attack
Calderwood Lodge primary School in Newton Mearns, East Renfrewshire – Scotland’s only Jewish school – already had a guard on site, but has not increased security following the recent attack.
A spokesman for East Renfrewshire council said it would work with “the school, local police and our Jewish community” to provide support and “keep the need for any additional measures under review”.
BBC Scotland News asked Police Scotland whether increased patrols or further precautions had been put in place around locations critically important to the Jewish community.
Sammy Stein, pictured, said there had been a rise in “hate” towards the Jewish community over the last two years.
Scotland’s senior Rabbi,Rabbi Moshe Rubin,said some people chose not to attend Hannukah celebrations on Sunday evening.
He said there was an “institutionalised anti-Israel feeling” in some Scottish public bodies,adding that there had been a “definite” rise in antisemitism over the past two years.
“There is a definite fear, there’s a sense of not feeling welcomed any more in Scotland,” he said.
“There is an institutionalised anti-Israel rhetoric at the heart of various different bodies looking after our country, that is where a lot of this rhetoric is coming from.
“that feeds into people who are looking for something to use against Jewish people.”
‘People stampeded in panic’
A 10-year-old girl was among those killed in the shooting – the deadliest in Australia in 30 years.
An event to mark the first day of the Hannukah festival, named Chanuka by the Sea, was taking place on Bondi Beach at the time of the attack.
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has vowed to strengthen the country’s gun laws, which were substantially tightened following the 1996 Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania.
He said the gunmen – one of whom came to the attention of authorities in 2019 – were “motivated by extremist ideology”.
A Scottish man living in Sydney was working at a nearby open air cinema at the time of the attack.
Kian bentley, 22, said people “stampeded” out of the venue after hearing gunshots.
Mr bentley, from Stirling, said he opened a gate at the bac