LONDON (AP) — Two Jewish men were stabbed and injured in a London street on Wednesday, in what police called an act of terrorism. Police arrested a 45-year-old man on suspicion of attempted murder in the city’s latest antisemitic attack.
The Metropolitan Police said the attack in the Golders Green area left two men, aged 34 and 76, hospitalized with knife wounds.
Counterterror police are investigating whether the stabbings are linked to recent arson attacks on synagogues and other Jewish sites in the British capital.
Politicians condemned the attack. “Attacks on our Jewish community are attacks on Britain,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said.
The security organization Shomrim said a suspect “was seen running along Golders Green Road armed with a knife and attempting to stab Jewish members of the public.” It said the suspect was detained by Shomrim members and arrested by police, who used a stun gun on him.
Surveillance camera footage showed a man beside a bus stop donning a kippah, or traditional skullcap, before a passerby with a knife lunges at him.
Police said the suspect also tried to stab police officers, but none was injured. They are working to establish the suspect’s nationality and background, and Detective Chief Superintendent Luke Williams said “investigators are considering all possible motives.”
Arson attacks in recent weeks targeted Jewish sites in London, including a charity’s ambulances in Golders Green and a synagogue a few miles (kilometers) away.
“It happens in Israel, but happening on our own doorstep, of course it’s shocking,” said Golders Green resident Moishe Grunfeld. “I have kids, I have grandchildren.”
Britain’s Jewish community is long-established but tiny as a percentage of the population, numberi …