Forensics officers search the area after two people were injured in a knife attack in Golders Green. Photo: Kin Cheung/AP/dpa
Keystone
The UK has raised its terror alert level following a knife attack in London that left two people injured. A terrorist attack in the United Kingdom in the next six months is now considered “very likely”; the current level (“severe”) is the fourth of five. At the previous level three (“substantial”), a terrorist attack was considered “likely”. As reported by the PA news agency, the warning level has been raised to “severe” for the first time since November 2021.
Two Jewish men, aged 76 and 34, were stabbed in the Golders Green district of London on Wednesday. A 45-year-old man was arrested, according to the police a British national born in Somalia. The attack has been classified as an act of terrorism and investigations are ongoing.
The rise in the threat level follows the knife attack, but is not solely attributable to it, the Home Office said. The terror threat level in the UK has been rising for some time, driven by an increase in general Islamist and far-right terrorist threats from individuals and small groups. The warning level is set by the independent Joint Terrorism Analysis Center.
In recent weeks and months, there have been repeated anti-Semitic attacks in the UK. The British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis called for “effective measures” to combat the causes of anti-Semitism. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was verbally abused by passers-by on Thursday when he visited Golders Green. In the eyes of critics, the government is not doing enough to prevent attacks and Jews.