A 45-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after allegedly running amok in a prominent London Jewish neighbourhood, stabbing two men, in what police are now calling a terrorist incident.
Two men were rushed to hospital on Wednesday morning after being stabbed by a knifeman in the Golders Green area of North London. Both victims were seriously injured but are in stable condition.
The first attack took place outside the Hager’s Shul synagogue, where a 34-year-old Jewish man who had just walked out of the building was set upon and repeatedly stabbed. Security footage from outside the synagogue shows the moment the assailant affects casually walking along the street before suddenly lunging at a man in the process of adjusting his hat, giving the victim no time to react or protect himself.
Shortly after, it is said the assailant struck again further up the road, stabbing a 76-year-old man. Coincidentally, walking between the locations of the two attacks took the assailant past the front doors of the North London Hatzola, a Jewish ambulance charity, which was the site of an antisemitic arson attack last month.
After the two stabbings, the alleged suspect then clashed with Shomrim — a Jewish community security charity active in north London — and police before being arrested. Footage from the scene of the arrest, itself just 300 yards away from where the Hatzolah ambulances were burnt out in March, officers can be seen running with the suspect away from the North Circular road, and employing their ‘tazer’ stun-guns.
Eventually the suspect, an apparently robustly-built African-heritage male wearing light coloured clothes under a navy blue jacket, falls, and is kicked in the head by an officer several times as he resists arrest. A Shomrim volunteer can be seen sitting on the suspect’s legs as officers wrestle the man into cuffs.
The Metropolitan Police said in a statement that “The suspect also attempted to stab police officers, and was Tasered before being arrested. No officers were injured.”
Counter terror police quickly took over investigation into the case, and shortly afterwards it was declared a suspected terrorist incident.
Given the frequency with which British Jews are the target of attacks now, the latest apparent terror attack has quickly seems demands of the UK government to stop talking about the need to take action, and to actually take action. The Isareli Foreign Ministry said in a statement that there have been “enough words” about antisemitism in Britain, and that “The UK must act decisively and urgently”. They said:
After attacks on synagogues, Jewish institutions, community ambulances and now Jews targeted in Golders Green, the UK government can no longer claim this is under control.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s statements are no substitute for confronting the roots of antisemitism festering across United Kingdom. British Jews should not need security patrols and emergency volunteers to live openly as Jews.
Britain’s Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis also said the time for talk is over. He said:
Following the anti-Semitic stabbing of two Jewish people on the streets of Golders Green this morning, words of condemnation are no longer sufficient. This must be a moment that demands meaningful action from every institution, every community, every leader and every decent person in our country. This is a hatred that we must face down together.
In scenes reminiscent of the recent Manchester Synagogue attack, where the then-Home Secretary David Lammy was heckled by members of the Jewish community who told him the government had failed to keep them safe, the chief of the Metropolitan Police was shouted down by local residents in Golders Green.
Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley was met with a barrage of shouts of “resign” and “shame on you” as he attempted to talk to press. Labour Member of Parliament for Golders Green Sarah Sackman was also met with “resign” and “shame” jeers at the same press conference.
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