UK PM condemns antisemitic attack after two stabbed in London

A 45-year-old man, who is also accused of trying to stab police officers, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

Two men – one in his 70s and one in his 30s – were injured in the attack in Golders Green and are in a stable condition in hospital, police added. No officers were injured.

Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer described “the antisemitic attack” as utterly “appalling” and thanked the local charity security group Shomrim, Hatzola – a Jewish ambulance service – and the police for responding so quickly.

During the attack, a man was “seen running along Golders Green Road armed with a knife and attempting to stab Jewish members of the public”, according to Shomrim, which provides local neighbourhood watch and emergency responses.

Shomrim added that it responded immediately, and that police deployed a Taser once they arrived.

Specialist counter-terrorism officers are leading the investigation and working to establish the suspect’s nationality, background and any terrorist links, police said.

Large swathes of the road had been cordoned off by police by the time CNN reached the area, and several emergency service vehicles, including an ambulance and police helicopter, were in attendance.

Video circulating on social media appeared to show a man being detained by several police officers as well as two men in plain clothes.

London’s Jewish community has been targeted by a wave of antisemitic attacks in recent weeks.

Last month, arsonists set fire to four ambulances belonging to a Jewish charity in Golders Green. Four people were subsequently charged by police.

Then, weeks later, a synagogue and the former premises of a Jewish charity, both in north London, were attacked.

No one was injured in the arson incidents, which all happened within a few kilometres of each other.

Counterterror officers are investigating whether the recent arson attacks were the work of Iranian proxies.

Starmer joined politicians condemning the attacks saying, ”attacks on our Jewish community are attacks on Britain”.

“We all need to .. be absolutely clear in our determination to deal with any of these offences, the like of which we’ve seen too much recently,” Starmer added in parliament on Wednesday.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said that “London’s Jewish community have been the target of a series of shocking antisemitic attacks.

“There must be absolutely no place for antisemitism in society,” he said.

Another prominent Jewish organisation – the Board of Deputies of British Jews – said they were working with the police “to understand what has happened and ensure a forceful response”.

Britain’s Jewish community is long-established but tiny as a percentage of the population, numbering about 300,000.

The north-west London suburb of Golders Green is one of its epicentres, home to kosher restaurants, multiple Jewish schools and several dozen synagogues, as well as large Asian and Middle Eastern communities.

Britain’s chief rabbi has said that UK Jews are facing a campaign of violence and intimidation.

The number of antisemitic incidents reported across the UK has soared since the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel and the subsequent Gaza war, according to the Community Security Trust. The group recorded 3700 incidents in 2025, up from 1662 in 2022.

In October 2025, an attacker drove his car into people gathered outside a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur and stabbed one person to death. Another person died during the attack after being inadvertently shot by police.

– Reported with CNN and Associated Press.

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