At least two people were stabbed on Wednesday (local time) in Britain’s Golders Green, which is located in north London, CNN reported, citing a local Jewish watchdog group.
The man was reportedly detained and several emergency services including an ambulance and a police helicopter attended the scene.
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Another anti-Semitic attack in London
According to Shomrim, a local security group, the suspect was seen running along Golders Green Road armed with a knife. He was attempting to stab Jewish members of the public, the group noted, adding that it responded immediately.
In addition, the police closed a large part of the road. A video circulating on social media showed a man being detained by the police, as well as two men in plainclothes.
British leaders react to Golders Green attack
Responding to the attack, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the incident in parliament as “deeply disturbing” after the news broke, adding that an investigation was now underway and the UK must be “absolutely clear in our commitment to deal with any of these crimes, of which we have seen far too many recently,” NBC reported.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan also responded to the attack, which took place on Wednesday. In a post on X, he wrote: “There has been an appalling attack on two Jewish Londoners in Golders Green. The police have made an arrest and I would like to thank all the emergency services and the heroic volunteers from Hatzol and Shomrim London in the area for their quick response to this horrific incident.”
Khan went on to say: “London’s Jewish community has been the target of a series of shocking anti-Semitic attacks. There must be absolutely no place for anti-Semitism in society. The Met has stepped up high-visibility patrols in the area.”
Anti-Semitic attacks are on the rise in London
The Jewish community in London has recently been the target of a series of anti-Semitic attacks. In March, arsonists torched four ambulances belonging to a Jewish charity in Golders Green, north London. Subsequently, the police charged four people.
A few weeks later, a synagogue and the former site of a Jewish charity in North London were also attacked.
Earlier on Monday, British police arrested a 37-year-old man for allegedly carrying out a series of attacks on Jewish properties in northwest London, The Times of Israel reported.
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The suspect was arrested “on suspicion of preparing acts of terrorism and was taken to a London police station for questioning”. According to the statement, “The arrest is part of an ongoing investigation by CTP London into a series of attacks on premises associated with the Jewish community in north-west London, an attack on a Persian-language media organization and the discovery of jars of a non-healthy substance in Kensington Gardens.”
UK PM plans new powers to ban state-sponsored terror groups
According to a BBC report, the Starmer-led government plans to introduce new counter-terrorism powers that would allow it to ban state threats such as Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the next parliamentary session.
This would allow the UK government to designate these state-sponsored groups as terrorist organisations. The development comes as Labor MPs urged the Starmer-led government to ban the IRGC following a spate of anti-Semitic attacks since the Iran war broke out in late February.
An Islamist group with suspected Iranian links, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, has claimed responsibility for the recent attack on Jewish community ambulances in north London, along with other incidents in the UK and Europe.
Iran uses criminal proxies in the UK
Reuters reported that officials recently warned that Iran was trying to use criminal proxies to carry out hostile activities in the UK.
The warning comes at a time when anti-Semitic attacks have been on the rise in Britain since the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war. The most serious anti-Semitic incident last year was the attack in Manchester in which two Jewish worshipers were killed during Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
