Two Jewish men were stabbed on a London street in the Golders Green area on Wednesday in an attack that police called an act of terror, prompting arrests, a counterterrorism investigation and public concern from members of the community.
The Metropolitan Police said the attack left two men, ages 34 and 76, hospitalized with knife wounds. Police arrested a 45-year-old man on suspicion of attempted murder. Counterterrorism police are investigating whether Wednesday’s stabbing is connected to recent arson attacks on synagogues and other Jewish sites in London, and whether those arsons involve an Iranian connection.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer held a meeting of the government’s emergency committee and said he would “deal with the roots of antisemitism and extremism.” The statement from Buckingham Palace said King Charles III was “deeply concerned,” and Metropolitan Police chief Mark Rowley said the attack was “another horrendous act of violence directed against our Jewish communities.”
At the scene, Rowley faced anger from some British Jews and bystanders who shouted “shame on you” and “resign” when he spoke to media. Rowley said the suspect’s name has not been released and that the man, whose alleged history includes serious violence and mental health issues, was immobilized by police.
The security organization Shomrim said the suspect “was seen running along Golders Green Road armed with a knife and attempting to stab Jewish members of the public.” Shomrim said its members detained the attacker and that police then arrested him, using a stun gun. Surveillance camera footage shown by police and witnesses depicted a man beside a bus stop wearing a kippah before a passerby with a knife lunges at him.
The police investigation also includes recent arson attacks targeting Jewish sites in London in recent weeks, including a charity’s ambulances in Golders Green and a synagogue a few miles away. Resident Anthony Silber said the incident was “somewhat worse” because it was a “physical attack against two human beings,” adding that it was “shocking” to hear, listen to and watch but “not a surprise.”
Police said counterterrorism detectives are investigating whether the arsons were carried out as part of a wider pattern that could involve Iran, though they said it was too soon to say whether Wednesday’s stabbing is connected. Since the start of the Iran war on Feb. 28, police said there have been a series of arson attacks on Jewish sites and on opponents of the Iranian government, and that several people from teens to people in their 40s have been arrested and charged over the arsons.
Some online claims have been made in the name of Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, and Israel’s government has described the group as recently founded with suspected links to “an Iranian proxy” that has also claimed responsibility for synagogue attacks in Belgium and the Netherlands. Security experts told AP that the name may be a “flag of convenience” rather than a coherent group and said its claims should be treated with caution.
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,” he said. Israeli President Isaac Herzog said the world must “wake up” to “a rising wave of anti-Jewish hatred,” writing on X that “in one of the great capital cities of the West, it has become dangerous to openly walk the streets as a Jew.”
Police and officials cited the wider climate in which the attack occurred, including that antisemitic incidents reported across the U.K. have increased since Oct. 7, 2023. The Community Security Trust charity recorded 3,700 incidents in 2025, up from 1,662 in 2022.