A 45-year-old man has been charged with attempted murder after two Jewish men were stabbed in north London on Wednesday.
Essa Suleiman has been charged with two counts of attempted murder and one count of possession of a bladed article in a public place over the incident in Golders Green, the Metropolitan Police confirmed.
Suleiman, of Camberwell, south London, was also charged with attempted murder in relation to a separate incident in Great Dover Street in Southwark earlier on Wednesday.
He is set to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
Suleiman was born in Somalia and came to the UK legally as a child in the 1990s, and was reported to Prevent, the Government’s anti-extremism programme, in 2020 but the case was closed the same year.
Police tasered and arrested the suspect after the double stabbing which saw two Jewish men – Shloime Rand, 34, and Moshe Ben Baila, 76, named locally as Moshe Shine – taken to hospital.
Mr Rand told the BBC it was a “miracle” he survived, adding: “I feel like God’s given me back my life.”
He has been discharged from hospital and is now recovering at home after receiving stitches, Rabbi Levi Schapiro from the Jewish Community Council, who has visited both victims, said on social media.
Mr Shine remains in hospital and in a stable condition.
The Metropolitan Police said pro-Palestine marches across the country will be assessed after the UK terrorism threat level was raised to “severe” by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre on Thursday, meaning a terror attack is “highly likely”.
The decision is not solely a result of the Golders Green attack, the Home Office said, adding the threat level in the UK has been “rising for some time”.
The Stop the War Coalition is planning a major demonstration in London on May 16 to mark Nakba Day, commemorating the 1948 displacement of Palestinians during the creation of Israel.
Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley criticised Green Party leader Zack Polanski for retweeting an X post accusing officers of “repeatedly and violently kicking a mentally ill man in the head” when he was already incapacitated from being tasered.
Sir Mark Rowley said he was “disappointed”, adding the post was “inaccurate and misinformed”.
