Double stabbing of Jewish men in London was terrorism, police say

Two Jewish men were stabbed and injured in a London street on Wednesday, in what police called an act of terrorism. Police arrested a 45-year-old man on suspicion of attempted murder in the city’s latest antisemitic attack.

The Metropolitan Police said the attack in the Golders Green area left two men, aged 34 and 76, hospitalized with knife wounds.

Counterterror police are investigating whether the stabbings are linked to recent arson attacks on synagogues and other Jewish sites in the British capital.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer was among the politicians condemning the stabbings, saying: “Attacks on our Jewish community are attacks on Britain,”

The volunteer security organization Shomrim said a person “was seen running along Golders Green Road armed with a knife and attempting to stab Jewish members of the public.” It said the suspect was detained by Shomrim members and arrested by police, who used a stun gun on him.

Surveillance camera footage showed a man beside a bus stop donning a kippah, or traditional skullcap, before a passerby with a knife lunges at him.

Police said the suspect also tried to stab police officers, but none was injured. They are working to establish the suspect’s nationality and background, and Detective Chief Superintendent Luke Williams said “investigators are considering all possible motives.”

Arson attacks in recent weeks targeted Jewish sites in London, including a charity’s ambulances in Golders Green and a synagogue a few kilometres away.

“It happens in Israel, but happening on our own doorstep, of course it’s shocking,” said Golders Green resident Moishe Grunfeld. “I have kids, I have grandchildren.”

Antisemitism up since October 2023

Britain’s Jewish community is long-established but tiny as a percentage of the population, numbering about 300,000. The northwest London suburb of Golders Green is one of its epicentres, home to kosher restaurants, Jewish schools and several dozen synagogues, as well as large Asian and Middle Eastern communities.

“There must be absolutely no place for antisemitism in society,” London Mayor Sadiq Khan said.

No one was injured in the arson incidents. Several people, ranging in age from teens to people in their 40s, have been arrested and charged.

Counterterror officers are investigating whether the arson attacks were the work of Iranian proxies. The U.K. has accused Iran of using criminal proxies to conduct attacks on European soil targeting opposition media outlets and the Jewish community. Britain’s MI5 domestic intelligence service says more than 20 “potentially lethal” Iran-backed plots were disrupted in the year ending in October.

Britain’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said Jews face a campaign of violence and intimidation and that words of condemnation are no longer sufficient.

“This must be a moment that demands meaningful action from every institution, every community, every leader and every decent person in our country. This is a hatred that we must face down together,” he said.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said the world must “wake up” to a rising wave of anti-Jewish hatred.

“In one of the great capital cities of the West, it has become dangerous to openly walk the streets as a Jew,” Herzog posted on X. “This is an unacceptable situation.”

The number of antisemitic incidents reported across the U.K. has soared since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel and the subsequent Gaza war, according to the Community Security Trust. The group recorded 3,700 incidents in 2025, up from 1,662 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.