Knife attack outside a synagogue in London. Two Jewish men wounded. Israel reacts: “It can no longer pretend that the situation is under control”
The London police have announced that they are treating as a “terrorist act” a knife attack committed in London on Wednesday against two Jewish men, who are currently hospitalized, Reuters, France Presse and Agerpres news agencies report.
“This event has been officially declared as an act of terrorism,” said Laurence Taylor, Deputy Commissioner of the London Police.
In a press conference, London's police chief, Commissioner Mark Rowley, said that the 45-year-old suspect has “a history of serious violence and psychiatric problems”.
Rowley added that it was a “horrific act of violence” directed against the Jewish community in the British capital.
PM Keir Starmer: 'Very worrying' facts
Two people were injured on Wednesday in a knife attack in the London neighborhood of Golders Green, where a large Jewish population lives, and the suspect was arrested.
According to the police, two men – one about 30 years old and the other about 70 years old – were stabbed and were transported to the hospital in a stable condition.
The suspect, a 45-year-old man, was arrested and also tried to attack the police. The motivation of the attack is not yet clear, but it seems to have the character of an anti-Semitic attack and took place near a synagogue. The nationality of the suspect has not yet been specified.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer reacted by saying that these are “very worrying” facts. “We must all make clear our determination to fight this type of attack, of which we have seen too many examples recently,” added the Labor prime minister, after a series of fires and attempted arsons in recent weeks at places linked to the Jewish community in north-west London.
British police have arrested 25 people suspected of involvement in the attacks, which were carried out after the US and Israel launched the war against Iran.
Israel asks London for “decisive and urgent measures”
Israel reacted by asking the British government to take urgent measures to protect the Jewish community.
“The British government can no longer pretend that the situation is under control,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said on the X platform, calling for “decisive and urgent measures”, in the context in which the Jewish community in London has been the target of several armed incidents in recent weeks.
After this new “anti-Semitic attack, words are insufficient to combat this scourge. We demand and expect action from the British government to protect the Jews of the United Kingdom,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later said, according to his office's X account.
“In one of the great Western capitals it is dangerous to walk on the street if you are a Jew. It is time for the world to wake up and fight with all possible means against this wave of hatred against the Jews”, Israeli President Isaac Herzog also reacted, who qualified the situation as “unacceptable”.
