An ISIS-inspired terror scheme targeting the Jewish community in Manchester has heightened concerns about Jewish safety in the UK. This week, three individuals were found guilty of orchestrating a potential mass-casualty shooting. Officials highlighted the plot as one of the most sophisticated ISIS-inspired threats ever uncovered in Britain, with the potential to be the country’s most devastating terrorist incident.
At Preston Crown Court, Walid Saadaoui, 38, and Amar Hussein, 52, were convicted of conspiring to execute a firearms attack on Jewish sites in Manchester. Additionally, Saadaoui’s brother, Bilel Saadaoui, 36, was found guilty of withholding information regarding the plot, as stated by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
The prosecution detailed plans for a rampage using military-grade firearms. Saadaoui had already made a down payment for four AK-47 rifles, two handguns, and significant quantities of ammunition. He funded these purchases by selling his home and business. Authorities were alerted to the scheme through an undercover operation, leading to Saadaoui’s arrest while attempting to acquire the weapons, according to CPS.
Walid Saadaoui, alongside his brother Bilel and accomplice Amar Hussein, has been convicted for their roles in a thwarted terrorist plan targeting Greater Manchester’s Jewish community. (Greater Manchester Police)
Assistant Chief Constable Rob Potts of Greater Manchester Police underscored the potential severity of the attack, stating it could have resulted in the UK’s most lethal terror event. He emphasized the devastating impact an assault on crowded Jewish locales could have had, as reported by Sky News.
The court was told that Saadaoui idolized Hamid al-Abaoud, the mastermind behind the 2015 Paris attacks, and aimed to mimic such mass killings. He reportedly expressed to an undercover officer a ruthless desire to kill indiscriminately, labeling any Christian casualties as merely “a bonus,” according to Sky News.
Prosecutors said the men planned to move between locations and intended to kill police officers who might respond to the attack. Saadaoui and Hussein also traveled to the White Cliffs of Dover in March and May 2024 to observe port security, believing they were surveilling how weapons would be brought into the U.K., according to the CPS.
The plot was disrupted on May 8, 2024, when Saadaoui was arrested while attempting to take delivery of firearms and ammunition during the undercover operation. Sky News reported that police body-worn camera footage showed armed officers arresting him moments after the handover.
Surveillance image showing Walid Saadaoui, 38, and Amar Hussein, 52, pictured near Dover, as they have been found guilty at Preston Crown Court of plotting to kill hundreds in an Islamic State-inspired gun rampage against the Jewish community, in Britain, in this handout surveillance image dated May 8, 2025. (Greater Manchester Police/Reuters)
Sky News also reported that intelligence sources said MI5 believed Saadaoui had previously been in contact with a British extremist who left the U.K. to join ISIS in 2013.
Prosecutor Harpreet Sandhu KC told the jury the plan “hardly had the innocence of a teddy bear picnic,” describing it as a deliberate attempt to inflict mass civilian casualties, Sky News reported.
The foiled plot revived painful memories in a city that has already suffered major terrorist attacks.
Manchester was the site of the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing, when an ISIS-inspired suicide bomber killed 22 people at a concert, the deadliest terror attack in the U.K. since the July 7, 2007, one in London.
More recently, counterterrorism police responded to an attack outside a synagogue in Manchester in October when an assailant rammed pedestrians and stabbed worshipers during Yom Kippur services, killing two Jewish men. British authorities declared the incident a terrorist attack, according to Reuters.
Money seized from the home of Bilel Saadaoui, 36, who has been found guilty of failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism as two men, Walid Saadaoui, 38, and Amar Hussein, 52, have been found guilty on Tuesday of plotting to kill hundreds in an Islamic State-inspired gun rampage against the Jewish community, in Britain, in this handout picture obtained by Reuters on Dec. 23, 2025. (Greater Manchester Police/Handout via Reuters)
The CPS said the foiled ISIS-inspired gun plot targeted an area of north Manchester predominantly occupied by the Jewish community, heightening concerns among security officials about repeated targeting of the same population.
The convictions come as new polling shows a sharp deterioration in British Jews’ sense of security.
A survey published by the Campaign Against Antisemitism in December 2025 found that 51% of British Jews do not believe they have a long-term future in the United Kingdom. According to the poll, 61% said they had considered leaving the country within the past two years, citing antisemitism and safety concerns.
Weapons seized from the home of Walid Saadaoui, 38, who has been found guilty at Preston Crown Court of plotting to kill hundreds in an Islamic State-inspired gun rampage against the Jewish community, in Britain, in this handout picture obtained by Reuters on December 23, 2025. Greater Manchester. (Police/Handout via Reuters)
The survey also found that 96% of respondents said Jews are less safe in the U.K. than before the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel, while 59% said they avoid wearing visible signs of Jewish identity in public due to fear of antisemitism.
Confidence in the police and justice system was also low. Only 14% of respondents said police do enough to protect Jewish communities, 8% said the justice system adequately punishes antisemitic crimes, and 7% said prosecutors do enough to bring offenders to justice, the Campaign Against Antisemitism reported.
