The increase to the second-highest threat level out of five means a terrorist attack within the next six months is highly likely, following Wednesday\u2019s stabbing of two Jewish men in the Golders Green area, the government said. It was decided independently by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre.<\/p>\n
The UK last faced such a threat level in November 2021, after the Liverpool Women\u2019s Hospital bombing and the killing of lawmaker David Amess, before it was lowered to \u201csubstantial\u201d in early 2022.<\/p>\n
Interior minister Shabana Mahmood said the assessment reflected the latest intelligence and a longer-term rise in extremist threats, and was not made solely in response to the Golders Green attack.<\/p>\n
Officials said the classification came against a spate of recent attacks in London and mounting security concerns linked to foreign states which they said had helped fuel violence, including against the Jewish community.<\/p>\n
Mr Starmer, who has faced severe criticism from some in the Jewish community for the government\u2019s response, promised more police in Jewish areas, a crackdown on those spreading antisemitism, and new legislation to deal with state-sponsored threats from the likes of Iran.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are scared, scared to show who they are in their community, scared to go to synagogue and practice 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,\u201d Mr Starmer said in a televised statement.<\/p>\n
He had earlier been jeered and heckled by a small crowd waving banners reading \u201cKeir Starmer Jew Harmer\u201d when he visited Golders Green where the latest attack took place.<\/p>\n
The suspect in the attack, a 45-year-old British national who was born in Somalia, had a history of serious violence and mental health issues, police said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Protesters hold up placards against UK prime minister Keir Starmer during his visit to Golders Green, north west London. Photo: Reuters<\/p>\n
Today’s News in 90 Seconds – Thursday, April 30 <\/p>\n
They confirmed he had previously been referred to the counter-radicalisation scheme Prevent in 2020, while local media reported he had served time in prison for an incident in 2008 when he stabbed an officer and a police dog.<\/p>\n
Amid widespread calls for more protection for the UK\u2019s small community of about 290,000 Jews, Mr Starmer said the government would do \u201ceverything in our power to stamp this hatred out\u201d.<\/p>\n
This included stronger powers to shut down charities promoting extremism and a clampdown on \u201chate preachers\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n
The government also said it would fast-track legislation allowing the prosecution of people acting as proxies of a state-sponsored group, so they can be dealt with in the same way as spies for foreign intelligence services.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need stronger powers to tackle the malign threat posed by states like Iran, because we know for a fact that they want to harm British Jews,\u201d Mr Starmer said.<\/p>\n
A pro-Iranian government group has claimed responsibility for some recent attacks while last month, two men were charged under the UK\u2019s existing National Security Act with being tasked by Iran to carry out hostile surveillance.<\/p>\n
Tehran has rejected such accusations.<\/p>\n
One of the major issues which has caused anger amongst the Jewish community in the UK has been pro-Palestinian marches, which have become commonplace since the October 2023 Hamas assault on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza. Critics say the protests have generated hostility and become a hotbed of antisemitism.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you stand alongside people who say \u2018Globalise the Intifada\u2019, you are calling for terrorism against Jews, and people who use that phrase should be prosecuted,\u201d Mr Starmer said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is racism, extreme racism, and it has left a minority community in this country, scared, intimidated, wondering if they belong.\u201d<\/p>\n
The recent incidents in London are part of a rising number of antisemitic attacks. Last October, two people were killed after an attack at a synagogue in Manchester. A week later, two men went on trial over a plot to kill hundreds in an Islamic State-inspired gun rampage against the Jewish community.<\/p>\n
One of the victims of the attack in Golders Green has accused the government of \u201cnot doing its job\u201d as he described the horrific moment he was stabbed in the chest.<\/p>\n
Shloime Rand (34) was stabbed along with 76-year-old Moshe Ben Baila, named locally as Moshe Shine. Speaking to ITV News from his hospital bed, the victim, Mr Rand, said: \u201cPeople are really concerned, people are afraid, people are uncomfortable walking in the street, people are blaming obviously the government for not doing anything about what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s for the past few months really that our community is suffering from these type of attacks. And now it\u2019s going on and trying to take people\u2019s lives and it\u2019s really terrible.\u201d He added: \u201cThe government, they are the ones that are able to take care of the problems. And they are not doing their job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Rand said he had been studying at a local synagogue when a man started running toward him. \u201cI didn\u2019t suspect anything, and he just stabbed me in the chest. I was taken to the hospital,\u201d he said. \u201cHe looked angry, he looked angry. You could feel it in his facial expressions; it was like he was out to get me.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The increase to the second-highest threat level out of five means a terrorist attack within the next six…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,13,14,6,18929,5446,11,12,15,16,5,7,8,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-462239","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-featured-news","11":"tag-featurednews","12":"tag-headlines","13":"tag-iran","14":"tag-keir-starmer","15":"tag-latest-news","16":"tag-latestnews","17":"tag-main-news","18":"tag-mainnews","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-top-stories","21":"tag-topstories","22":"tag-world","23":"tag-world-news","24":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116496248849670604","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}