Two Jewish men are in hospital after a knife attack in Golders Green, north London this morning, the latest in a series of recent antisemitic attacks.
The attacker struck at around 11.15am near the Netzach Yisroel synagogue, targeting men as they left morning prayers. Volunteers from the Shomrim neighbourhood watch intervened and restrained the assailant before police arrived.
Brought down
Officers then tasered and brought down the man after he turned on them with the knife. A 45-year-old has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.
The two victims, one in his seventies, one in his thirties, were treated at the scene by the Jewish emergency service Hatzola before being taken to hospital, where both are described as stable.
Laurence Taylor, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, confirmed the attack has been designated a terrorism incident.
Attacks on Jews
He said the investigation would examine whether the attack was deliberately aimed at the Jewish community, though given the location and circumstances, that question should be quickly resolved.
The attack is the most serious in a run of antisemitic incidents concentrated in north London. Four Hatzola ambulances were destroyed by arson in Golders Green in late March.
A synagogue and a Jewish charity’s former premises were subsequently attacked.
On Monday, counter-terrorism officers opened a separate investigation into a suspected arson at a memorial wall on Limes Avenue, in the same neighbourhood.
