The Commonwealth’s chief rabbi and Israel’s foreign ministry are calling for action after a series of incidents targeting the Jewish community in the UK.
Sir Ephraim Mirvis said “words of condemnation are no longer sufficient” after two Jewish men were stabbed in London’s Golders Green on Wednesday.
The Israeli foreign ministry, meanwhile, said the recent spate of attacks on Jewish areas means “the UK Government can no longer claim this is under control”.
A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder over the Golders Green stabbings and counterterror police have launched an investigation.
Here is a look at the attacks on Jewish sites in the UK in the past months.
2 October 2025
Worshippers Melvin Cravitz and Adrian Daulby were killed when 35-year-old Jihad Al-Shamie, a Syrian-born British citizen, drove into the gates of the Heaton Park synagogue in Crumpsall, Manchester, and then began attacking with a knife, while wearing a fake suicide belt.
It was the first fatal antisemitic terror attack in the UK since the Community Security Trust began recording incidents in 1984.
23 March 2026
Four Jewish community ambulances are torched in Golders Green, northwest London, in the early hours of the morning.
The vehicles belonged to Hatzola, a volunteer-led ambulance service operating in the area, and investigators have probed claims that terror group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia (HAYI) was behind the attack.
A video was posted on Telegram featuring a map of the location where the ambulances were kept and footage of them on fire.
15 April
Attempted arson attacks are carried out in the early hours at Finchley Reform Synagogue, and at about 8.30pm outside the offices of a Persian media company, both in northwest London.
Bottles, one thought to contain petrol, were placed near the synagogue in Fallow Court Avenue, Finchley.
Two people wearing dark clothing and balaclavas were seen approaching the building and neither of the bottles were ignited, the Metropolitan Police said.
They fled the scene with no damage or injuries reported, it added.
Hours later an “ignited container” was thrown towards the site of Volant Media, the parent company of Persian news channel Iran International.
It landed in a car park where the fire immediately went out.
There were no injuries and the suspects left the area in a black four-wheel-drive vehicle, police have said.
18 April
Items are found near the Israeli embassy, central London, in the morning, and that night a former Jewish charity building is attacked in Hendon, Barnet.
A man was spotted approaching the row of shops carrying a plastic bag later found to contain three bottles of fluid, police said.
He placed the bag by the old Jewish Futures building before lighting the items inside and fleeing after they failed to fully ignite, police added.
The shopfront sustained minor damage and no injuries were reported.
A video, which appears to have been shared by HAYI, shows a target over an image of the Israeli embassy and people dressed in hazmat suits flying drones.
Another apparent HAYI clip claimed the Hendon attack.
19 April
A “bottle with some sort of accelerant” is “thrown through the window” of Kenton United Synagogue, Harrow, the Metropolitan Police said.
Smoke was seen inside a room at the synagogue after officers spotted damage to the window at around midnight.
Video that seems to be from HAYI shows a person in dark clothing lighting an item and throwing it at the synagogue before running away.
Two teenagers, a 17-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man, have since been arrested in connection with the incident.
27 April
A memorial wall in Golders Green was targeted in a suspected arson attack.
The Metropolitan Police said it received reports of a fire at the site in Limes Avenue but the wall itself was not damaged.
The memorial wall is a tribute to thousands of protesters killed in a crackdown in Iran in January and is near a Jewish centre.
A section of the wall is dedicated to those killed in the Hamas attack on the Nova music festival in Israel in 2023, while a more recent statement of solidarity for the Jewish community in the wake of recent attacks has been attached to a nearby tree.
29 April
Two Jewish men, one in his 70s, were stabbed in an apparent antisemitic attack on Golders Green Road.
A man was arrested after he was seen running armed with a knife and “attempting to stab Jewish members of the public”, northwest London Jewish security group Shomrim said on social media.
The 45-year-old suspect allegedly tried to stab police officers when he was stopped and was tasered before being arrested.
