london —
“If you are visibly Jewish, you are not safe” in Britain, the country’s chief rabbi said on Thursday, expressing the fears of Britain’s Jewish community after two men were stabbed in a London suburb already reeling from several recent anti-Semitic attacks.
“Unfortunately, today’s events prove that you are not safe if you are visibly Jewish and that much more needs to be done,” Ephraim Mirvis told the BBC.
“For the past few days people have been thinking ‘Chas Beshalom’ God forbid. Where will it be next?” he added in a post about X.
In Wednesday morning’s attack in Golders Green, one of the Jewish victims was stabbed while wearing a kippah at a bus stop, while the other was stabbed while walking in the street. Police announced it as a terrorist incident. Police said both men were hospitalized in stable condition, and a 45-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder.
The suspect was known to authorities since he was introduced to the government’s counter-extremism program in 2020, police added on Thursday.
The Jewish community, concentrated in north London, has been the target of several anti-Semitic attacks in recent weeks. These include an arson attack in which four ambulances belonging to a Jewish charity were set on fire in Golders Green last month, and an attack on a synagogue two weeks ago.
The repeated attacks prompted British terrorism adviser Jonathan Hall to call it the “biggest national security emergency” the UK has faced since 2017, when 35 people were killed in multiple terrorist attacks, including one that targeted an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester.
“There are British people, especially in London, who don’t think they can live a normal life. And it’s not one attack, it’s multiple attacks,” he told the BBC.
Local MP Sarah Sackman also told BBC Newsnight that while “the threat to Jews in this country is very real”, “there is no guarantee that everyone will be kept safe”.
British Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the attacks were being treated like an “emergency”, but stopped short of labeling the threat a “national emergency”.
He added that claims of responsibility by a shadowy Iranian-backed group are being investigated, but police have not yet confirmed whether the claims are merely opportunistic or substantive.
The government has announced an additional £25 million ($34 million) to fund increased security in Jewish communities, particularly in synagogues, schools and community centres. This is in addition to the £33 million ($44.5 million) the government promised earlier this year, according to PA Media.
Still, the anger of London’s Jewish community was palpable. Dozens of people protested against British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s visit to the neighborhood on Thursday, but prominent journalist Ben Judah said a more meaningful response was France’s mobilization of 10,000 troops to protect Jewish centers after the 2015 Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris.
