The day after two Jewish men were stabbed in north London, Britain raised its national terrorism threat level to “severe” – meaning another attack is now considered highly likely within the next six months.
The decision, announced on Thursday, moves the country to its second-highest alert level for the first time since November 2021. It came hours after Prime Minister Keir Starmer stood before television cameras and admitted what many British Jews have been saying for months: they are scared.
“Scared to show who they are in their community,” Starmer said. “Scared to go to synagogue and practise their religion. Scared to go to university as a Jew, to send their children to school as a Jew, to tell their colleagues that they are Jewish.”
The attack that triggered the latest escalation took place on Wednesday in Golders Green, a neighbourhood in north London known for its large Jewish population. Two Jewish men were stabbed. Police have not released their conditions, but both survived.
The suspect, a 45-year-old British national born in Somalia, had been referred to the government’s Prevent counter-radicalisation programme in 2020. He had also served prison time for a 2008 attack in which he stabbed a police officer and a police dog.
For Britain’s Jewish community, numbering around 290,000 people, the raised threat level is not abstract. It means more police on the streets of neighbourhoods like Golders Green, Hendon, and Stamford Hill. It means synagogues reviewing their security plans. It means parents wondering whether sending their children to Jewish schools is as safe as it was last week.
“When we raise the threat level to severe, it is not a political gesture,” Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood said. “It is a judgment by intelligence professionals that an attack is highly likely.”
The decision was made independently by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, which assesses intelligence from MI5, police, and other agencies. Officials said the increase reflected “a longer-term rise in extremist threats” and was not based solely on the Golders Green stabbing – but that attack was the final straw.
Starmer, who has faced growing criticism from some Jewish leaders for not acting quickly enough, travelled to Golders Green on Thursday. He was met by a small crowd of demonstrators holding banners that read “Keir Starmer Jew Harmer.”
It was a sharp reminder that for many in the community, trust in the government is already broken.
In response, Starmer announced new measures: more police in Jewish areas, a crackdown on charities accused of promoting extremism, and fast-tracked legislation to prosecute individuals acting as proxies for hostile states – specifically naming Iran.
“We need stronger powers to tackle the malign threat posed by states like Iran,” Starmer said, “because we know for a fact that they want to harm British Jews.”
A pro-Iranian group has claimed responsibility for some recent attacks. Last month, two men were charged under Britain’s National Security Act with conducting hostile surveillance for Iran. Tehran has denied the accusations.
The Golders Green stabbings are the latest in a string of violent incidents targeting Jewish people in Britain. In October last year, two people were killed in an attack at a synagogue in Manchester. A week later, two men went on trial over an Islamic State-inspired plot to kill hundreds of Jewish people – a plot foiled by police. Both were found guilty in December.
Britain’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Jonathan Hall, told the BBC this week that the country is facing “the biggest national security emergency” since a wave of high-profile attacks in 2017.
For ordinary British residents who are not Jewish, the severe threat level does not mean changing daily routines. Police advice remains the same: go about your business, but stay vigilant. Report anything suspicious. Trust your instincts.
But for Jewish families, vigilance is already a way of life. The Community Security Trust, a charity that protects Jewish institutions, has become an essential lifeline. Its emergency number – 0800 032 3263 – is saved in thousands of phones across the country.
One Golders Green resident, who asked not to be named, told local media: “We are used to this. That is the saddest part. We are used to being scared.”
Starmer promised that would change. “We will do everything in our power to stamp this hatred out,” he said.
But standing in Golders Green, with police tape still visible and protesters chanting his name in anger, the gap between promise and reality has rarely felt wider.
Source: Reuters
