UK police said on Friday they had charged a 45-year-old man over the stabbing of two Jewish men in north London, the latest in a string of hate attacks.
"Essa Suleiman... has been charged with two counts of attempted murder and one count of possession of a bladed article in a public place in relation to an attack in Golders Green on Wednesday," the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed Thursday to boost security for the Jewish community after accusations from angry British Jews that his government has repeatedly failed to protect them.
He said: “I absolutely understand the high levels of anxiety and concern that there are.”
“Antisemitism is an old, old hatred. History shows that the roots are deep, and if you turn away, it grows back," he said during a televised statement at 10 Downing St. “Yet far too many people in this country diminish it.”
Later Thursday, the interior ministry announced that the country's terrorism threat level had been raised to "severe", the second highest in the five-tier system and meaning another attack "is highly likely in the next six months."
The two men were attacked in broad daylight in Golders Green, a north London area with a large Jewish population.
The victims, aged 76 and 34, were in a stable condition in hospital.
The suspected attacker is a British national who was born in Somalia and came to the UK as a child.
Britain’s Jewish community, which numbers about 300,000 people, has faced growing attacks online and in the streets.
The number of antisemitic incidents reported across the UK has soared since the attack by Hamas-led militants on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the subsequent war in Gaza, according to the Community Security Trust charity.
In October, an attacker drove his car into people gathered outside a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur and fatally stabbed one man. Another man died during the attack after being inadvertently shot by police.
Since the start of the Iran war on Feb. 28, there have been a string of arson attacks on synagogues and other Jewish sites in London as well as on opponents of the Iranian government.
Police say that 28 people have been arrested over those attacks, which did not cause any injuries. A handful have been charged and one teenager has been convicted after pleading guilty.
