The UK government on Thursday said the country was facing an anti-Semitic emergency and pledged to increase security in Jewish communities after a series of arson attacks and double stabbings sparked fear and anger among Jews.
The country’s official terrorism threat level has been raised from critical to severe after Wednesday’s stabbing attack in London, which police called an act of terrorism. Severe is the second highest category on the five-point scale and means that intelligence agencies are looking at the most likely attack in the next six months.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said his government would “do everything in our power to end this hatred” after two Jewish men, aged 34 and 76, were seriously injured in a stabbing in Golders Green, a north London neighborhood that is at the heart of Britain’s Jewish community. Both men are in stable condition.
But some in the community have directed their anger at the government, which they say is failing to fight racism. Starmer was mobbed by around 100 protesters holding signs reading “Keir Starmer, the hurting Jew” during a visit to Golders Green on Thursday.
The prime minister said in response that “I fully understand the high levels of concern and anxiety that exist.”
“Antisemitism is an old, old hatred. History shows that the roots are deep, and if you turn your back, it comes back,” he said during a televised address at 10 Downing St. “Yet too many people in this country discount it.”
Police arrested a 45-year-old man for attempted murder and called the stabbing an act of terrorism. Investigators are working to determine a motive and whether there is a link to Iranian proxies.
The suspect, whose name has not been released, “had a history of severe violence and mental health,” police said. In 2020, he was transferred to the government’s Prevention program, which tries to steer people away from extremism. The police force said his file was closed later that year, but did not disclose the reason for his transfer.
The stabbing followed the arson
Britain’s Jewish community, numbering around 300,000, has faced increasing attacks online and on the streets.
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The number of anti-Semitic incidents reported across the UK has risen since the attacks by Hamas-led militants in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the subsequent war in Gaza, according to the charity Community Security Trust.
In October, an attacker drove his car into people gathered outside a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur and stabbed one man to death. Another man died when he was attacked after being shot by the police.
Since the start of the war with Iran on February 28, there have been a series of attacks on synagogues and other Jewish places in London and by opponents of the Iranian government.
The police said that 28 people have been arrested for these attacks that did not harm anyone. Several were charged and one teenager was convicted after pleading guilty.
Police are investigating a possible link to Iranian proxies
Incidents of vandalism have been claimed online in the name of Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia. The Israeli government described the group, whose name stands for the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right, as a newly formed group with alleged links to an “Iranian proxy” that it also claimed was responsible for attacks on synagogues in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Online postings under the same name also claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s stabbing. Interior Secretary Shabana Mahmood said authorities are investigating whether the claim is credible or “opportunistic.”
Security experts have warned that the name could be a flag of convenience rather than a coalition, and its claims should be treated with caution.
The UK has accused Iran of using criminal proxies to carry out attacks on European soil against Iranian opposition media outlets and the Jewish community. Britain’s domestic intelligence agency MI5 says more than 20 potentially dangerous programs sponsored by Iran have been disrupted in the year ending in October.
The government said the increase in the threat level was not only a result of the Golders Green attack, but also due to an increase in the threat “from Islamist and far-right terrorist threats from individuals and minority groups based in the UK”.
The threat level worsened most of the time between 2014 and February 2022, when it dropped to serious.
The government is under pressure to tackle racism
Starmer promised that the attack would bring a “swift and visible” criminal justice response. Mahmood said treating anti-Semitism as an “emergency,” describing it as the highest security issue he faced.
The government has announced 25 million pounds ($34 million) for police patrols and security around synagogues, schools and community centers, and Starmer said the courts would speed up convictions for attacks on protesters as a deterrent.
But some Jews and others say that the government has allowed the spirit of Jewish resistance to grow. They say the pro-Palestinian protests, which have been held regularly since October 2023, have gone beyond criticism of Israel’s actions to promote an atmosphere of terror and hatred against Jews.
The protests were mostly peaceful, but some say chants like “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” incite anti-Semitic hatred. Some protesters were arrested for showing support for Hamas, an organization banned in the UK
Jonathan Hall, the government’s former reviewer of terrorism legislation, has called for pro-Palestinian marches to be temporarily banned, saying they have helped “incubate” anti-Semitism.
The leader of the opposition Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, backed the calls for a ban, saying the marches were “used to defend against violence and terrorize Jews.”
The government does not support the ban, but Starmer said protesters who used the phrase “globalize intifada” – seen by some as a call to attack Jews – should be prosecuted.
Starmer said the government would step up force “to deal with the serious threat posed by states like Iran – because we know they want to harm British Jews.”
