"Is there a future for us here? I don’t know,” says Michael Marlowe, who lost his son Jake at the Nova Festival during the October 7 attack on Israel.
For Mr Marlowe, like many Jewish people in north London, the Golders Green double stabbing "did not shock" him.
Afterall, Jake left for Israel after not feeling “safe” in the UK, he explains.
Mr Marlowe spoke to The Standard in Golders Green as the capital was still reeling from the latest attack on its Jewish community.
For months, Jewish leaders in Britain have been increasingly warning of the growing number of antisemitism incidents.
Did their warnings fall on deaf ears? Or at least only half open ears? They have every right to believe so.
Then, the arson attacks started.
A darker cloud quickly spread across Jewish communities in the city.
Four Jewish community ambulances were torched in Golders Green in the early hours of March 23.
The vehicles were from Hatzola, a volunteer-led ambulance service and the damage was put at around £1 million.
The cost to London, though, ran far deeper.
It wasn’t the money but a vile scar on a city which prides itself on its diversity.
A Jewish ambulance service, helping people of all faiths, had been targeted.
A few weeks later, on April 15, attempted arson attacks were carried out in the early hours at Finchley Reform Synagogue, and at about 8.30pm outside the offices of a Persian media company, Volant Media, both in north-west London.
Just two days later, on April 17, Kensington Gardens were sealed off as suspicious items were found.
A video, which appears to have been shared by the shadowy group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia (The Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right) showed a target over an image of the nearby Israeli Embassy and people dressed in hazmat suits flying drones.
That night a former Jewish charity building, the old Jewish Futures, was attacked in Hendon, Barnet.
Again, another apparent Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia clip claimed the Hendon attack.
The frequency of the incidents was becoming alarming.
It also appeared increasingly clear that there may be a terror group, or hostile state, behind them.
The finger of suspicion was increasingly pointing at Iran, and its hardline Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps which is believed to have links to Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia.
The next day, a teenage boy smashed the window of Kenton United Synagogue in Harrow before lighting a bottle and throwing it inside, a judge was told.
The 17-year-old, a British national from Brent, north-west London, admitted arson not endangering life at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
Britain’s security and intelligence services were working to establish if Tehran was behind the attacks.
But by now, the UK’s anti-terror laws chief Jonathan Hall KC was clear: “It looks as if this is a highly coordinated set of measures that have been taken by Iran against countries that they would see as their adversaries.”
Nine days later, a memorial wall in Limes Avenue, Golders Green, was targeted in a suspected arson attack.
Many of the attacks appeared amateurish, with the Met Police swiftly arresting more than 25 people.
Scotland Yard also warned “thugs for hire” that they were risking prison sentences of ten years or more to carry out the arsons, for which they could be paid as little as a few hundred pounds.
The attacks had triggered deeper anxiety in the Jewish community but fortunately no serious injuries.
That all changed on April 29.
Two Jewish men, Shilome Rand, 34, and 76-year-old Mosche Ben Baila, named locally as Moshe Shine, were taken to hospital after being stabbed on Golders Green Road.
Essa Suleiman, 45, who is accused of carrying out the stabbings, appeared in court on Friday charged with with two counts of attempted murder and one count of possession of a bladed article
After the incident on Wednesday, Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis said: “Following the antisemitic stabbing of two Jewish people on the streets of Golders Green, words of condemnation are no longer sufficient.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office posted a message on X demanding action by the UK to protect Jews and “bring antisemites to justice”.
The next day, Britain’s terror threat was raised to “severe”, meaning an attack is highly likely, with The Standard revealing that synagogues in the capital are preparing for possibly being targeted with chemical weapons.
Sir Keir Starmer stressed the criminal justice response to the attacks in London must be “swift, agile and visible”.
But how can the capital recover and root out antisemites and other people behind them?
Faith minister Miatta Fahnbulleh, MP for Peckham, met fellow parliamentarians and Jewish leaders, to try to map out a way forward.
“I understand the anger and upset,” she told The Standard.
“The safety of the Jewish community is a measure of this country’s integrity.“
She urged: “We must stand up for one another and against the extremists of all persuasions that unite in their hatred of Jews.
“That means everyone, of all faiths and none, calling out antisemitism wherever and whenever it arises.”
London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan announced more police would be deployed to protect Jewish communities, a further £25 million was announced by the Government for security measures, and new legislation will be rushed through Parliament which could allow for the proscribing of the IRGC.
The scale of the threat has also united London MPs from across parties to do more to hold the Government’s feet to the fire to deliver concrete action.
"We need to be braver and bolder in tackling this problem,” Catherine West, Labour MP for Hornsey and Friern Barnet, told The Standard.
“Saying 'Death to Israel' 'Death to Jews' needs to be challenged more forcefully.”
The former minister added: “The Government needs to do more to join up the dots so it's a strategy not just an immediate reaction to individual events."
David Simmonds, chair of the All-party Parliamentary Group on British Jews and Conservative MP for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner, is also pushing ministers to do more.
They agree, like so many people, that tackling the root causes of the antisemitism is vital rather than just building ever tighter security.
Devorah Miller, who with her husband Jack own the Bitz of Glitz shop in Golders Green, called for “real action” and the punishment of those responsible for the attacks.
“Why should we need people to protect us?” she added.
Mr Miller stressed: “We don’t want to live in a militant city. It’s become normalised that Jews need security to live their lives.”
