{"id":29104,"date":"2026-05-05T13:35:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T13:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/29104\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T13:35:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T13:35:11","slug":"uk-counter-terrorism-police-probe-arson-attack-at-former-london-synagogue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/29104\/","title":{"rendered":"UK Counter Terrorism police probe arson attack at former London synagogue"},"content":{"rendered":"

London, United Kingdom \u2014 London police said Tuesday that Counter Terrorism police were investigating a new arson incident targeting the Jewish community after a blaze at a former synagogue.<\/p>\n

Firefighters were called to a building in east London early in the morning, the capital\u2019s Metropolitan Police said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Only minor damage was caused to the gates of the building, formerly the East London Central Synagogue, located on Nelson Street in the Tower Hamlets borough of the capital.<\/p>\n

\u201cInitial CCTV enquiries indicate that the fire was started intentionally at approximately 05:10hrs and the incident is being treated as arson,\u201d said the statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the nature of the incident and the location being a former synagogue, the incident is being investigated by Counter Terrorism Policing London.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tGet The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition
\n\t\t\tby email and never miss our top stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n

Detective Chief Superintendent Brittany Clarke, who heads policing in the area, said in the statement that officers were \u201ctaking this incident extremely seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe building targeted has not been operational as a synagogue for some years, but that will be of little comfort to the Jewish community in Tower Hamlets, Hackney and beyond, who are first in my thoughts this morning,\u201d she said, and added the local residents can expect to see an increased police presence in the area as the investigation is carried out.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tThe scene of an apparent arson attack targeting a former synagogue on London\u2019s Nelson Street, May 5, 2026. (Shomrim)<\/p>\n

Commander Helen Flanagan, Head of London Counter Terrorism Police, which is leading the investigation, said officers will be \u201cconsidering any potential links\u201d to a number of other incidents of arson or attempted arson targeting Jewish Londoners in the north west of the city.<\/p>\n

According to The Guardian newspaper, the old synagogue was due to go up for auction earlier this year, and a Muslim group had been interested in converting it into a mosque and community center.<\/p>\n

The news came as Prime Minister Keir Starmer gathered public figures<\/a> for talks on a response to what he called a \u201ccrisis\u201d after a series of antisemitic attacks.<\/p>\n

There has been a spate of incidents, including arson in the capital, notably in the Golders Green area of north London, which is home to a large Jewish community.<\/p>\n

Last week, two Jewish men were stabbed and seriously injured in a main street of the area, and in April, four ambulances belonging to a Jewish volunteer emergency service were torched, also in Golders Green.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the lines of inquiry is whether a foreign state has been behind some of these incidents,\u201d Starmer told the meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur message to Iran or to any other country that might seek to promote violence, hatred or division in society is that it will not be tolerated.\u201d<\/p>\n

A little-known group called Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI) \u2014 meaning The Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand and\u00a0believed to be linked to Iran \u2014 has claimed responsibility for previous attacks in Britain and other European countries.<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\tWhich gorgeous bird do you prefer?\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

THIS MONTH ONLY: Join our reader support group for as little as $6\/month and receive an exclusive tote bag featuring one of Israel\u2019s native birds.<\/p>\n

Choose between the\u00a0Duchifat (orange), Israel’s national bird, or the Shaldag (blue), a beloved symbol of the Israeli landscape.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As a member of the Times of Israel Community,\u00a0you’ll also enjoy:<\/p>\n


\nAn ad-free experience of our site and podcasts.
\nExclusive access to award-winning films via DocuNation.
\nWeekly letters from founding editor David Horovitz. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tJoin ToI Community & claim my bag\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tCLAIM YOUR BAG\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\tAlready a member? Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\tYou appreciate our wartime journalism\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\t\t\tWe\u2019re really pleased that you\u2019ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month. \n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

You clearly find our careful reporting of the Iran war valuable, at a time when facts are often distorted and news coverage often lacks context.<\/p>\n

Your support is essential to continue our work. We want to continue delivering the professional journalism you value, even as the demands on our newsroom have grown dramatically during this ongoing conflict.<\/p>\n

So today, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. For as little as $6 a month you’ll become our partners while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing\u00a0exclusive content\u00a0available only to Times of Israel Community members.<\/p>\n

Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel<\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tJoin Our Community\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tJoin Our Community\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\tAlready a member? Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"London, United Kingdom \u2014 London police said Tuesday that Counter Terrorism police were investigating a new arson incident…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28941,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[8558,3354,5022,8557,5,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-29104","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"tag-antisemitic-attacks","9":"tag-arson","10":"tag-british-jews","11":"tag-london-metropolitan-police","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116522236141594198","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}