UK police probe arson attacks on Jewish targets
UK police say they are investigating whether a string of arson attacks on Jewish sites in London is the work of Iranian proxies.
Kenton Synagogue
UK police say they are investigating possible Iranian government links to a series of arson attacks on Jewish targets in London, which the country’s chief rabbi says shows a sustained campaign of violence against the Jewish community is gathering momentum.
After the latest attack, at Kenton United Synagogue in the Harrow area of the city, shortly after midnight – the third such incident in a week – United Kingdom counter-terrorism police said they were heading up investigations into the incidents.
A pro-Iranian government group, which says it is also behind a spate of attacks across Europe on United States, Israeli and Jewish targets, has said it was responsible.
“As the conflict in the Middle East continues to evolve, counter-terrorism policing and our partners remain alive to the threat of Iranian hostile activity in the UK,” Vicki Evans, senior national co-ordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing, told reporters.
“We are aware of public reporting that suggests this group may have links to Iran. As you would expect, we will continue to explore that question as our investigation evolves.”
Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said the Kenton fire, which did not cause any significant damage, was the third “cowardly” attack on Jewish sites in the UK capital in less than a week.
“A sustained campaign of violence and intimidation against the Jewish community of the UK is gathering momentum,” Mirvis said on X.
“Thank God, no lives have been lost, but we cannot, and must not, wait for that to change before we understand just how dangerous this moment is for all of our society.”
On Friday night, there was an attempted arson attack on a business premises with links to the Jewish community while a few days earlier police arrested two suspects over an attempted arson attack on another synagogue in the capital.
Meanwhile, an area around the Israeli embassy in London was cordoned off following an online report that it had been targeted with drones carrying “dangerous substances”.
Police later said the items they found did not contain any harmful or hazardous substances.
Last month, several ambulances belonging to the Jewish volunteer emergency service Hatzola, which were parked near a synagogue in Golders Green, were torched.
Police said they had boosted their presence in the area, and it was officers on a “deterrence” patrol shortly after midnight who spotted a window at the Kenton synagogue had been damaged.
They found an accelerant had been thrown inside.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was appalled by the attempted anti-Semitic arson attacks.
“This is abhorrent and it will not be tolerated. Attacks on our Jewish community are attacks on Britain,” he wrote on X.
The Pro-Iranian group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, (HAYI) or Movement of the Companions of the Right Hand of Islam, has said it is responsible, and posted a video purporting to show the attack on the Kenton synagogue on social media.
“This same group has claimed several incidents over recent months at places of worship, business and financial institutions across Europe,” Evans said.
“These locations all appear to be linked to Jewish or Israeli interests.”
In Australia, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry strongly condemned the arson attack on the Kenton United Synagogue.
“In March, we saw the torching of four Jewish community ambulances in London, which shocked and revolted all decent people”, said ECAJ President Daniel Aghion. “Now we are seeing unchecked antisemitism plumb even lower depths, with vicious attacks on Jewish places of worship.
The attempt to mask these attacks as political acts has been exposed as a lie. They are manifestations of gross antisemitism from the murkiest depths of the corrupted souls of the perpetrators.”
Aghion warned: “Worse will come if decisive action is not taken now to squash this ugly anti-Jewish racism and the evil forces promoting it. We saw this first-hand at Bondi Beach on December 14”.
We express our total solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the British Jewish community. We send them our love and our prayers and wish them strength. The Jewish people have stood at the forefront of humanity’s confrontation with the worst manifestations of evil in every epoch of history. Whether we live in the UK or Australia, let the whole world know that we stand together.”
Two teenagers have been reported to have been arrested.
Reuters/J-Wire
