Police in London are setting up a 100-strong team of officers to help protect Jewish communities across the British capital, following a series of anti-Semitic attacks in the city.
London’s Metropolitan Police announced the move on May 6, describing the new team as bringing together “neighbourhood policing, specialist protection and counter terrorism capabilities, providing a more visible, intelligence‑led and coordinated presence focused on protecting Jewish communities across London.”
“British Jews now appear on the hate lists of every major extremist movement: extreme right‑wing groups, Islamist terrorists, elements of the extreme left and hostile state actors,” the Metropolitan Police said in a statement announcing the new Community Protection Team.
“It is a deeply concerning convergence, and Jewish communities are living with the consequences of that risk daily.”
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley said the new squad was “an important step in strengthening our response to the sustained threats Jewish communities are facing,” and would “provide more visible, consistent and intelligence‑led protection.”
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said that he would work with the police to “bear down on antisemitism and ensure Jewish Londoners feel safe and are safe in our city.”
“Alongside the police action we need a relentless approach to tackling all hate crime in London and we all have a role to play in calling out hate in all its forms to build a safer London for everyone,” he added, according to a statement.
The unveiling of the dedicated protection team comes as officers announced more arrests for anti-Semitism, including arresting a 35-year-old man on May 2 “on suspicion of aggravated criminal damage after rocks were thrown at an ambulance belonging to the Jewish community,” the Metropolitan Police said.
Since late March, there have been numerous high-profile arson attacks, with four Jewish ambulances burned, synagogues targeted, and, on April 29, two Jewish men stabbed in the Golders Green area of London.
Both victims survived the attack, but the incident caused a huge outcry within the Jewish community and more broadly, and prompted the government to raise the national terrorism threat to its second-highest level on April 30.
The government said the raising of the terrorism threat level to “severe” is not due solely to the Golders Green attack but because of increased danger “from Islamist and extreme right-wing terrorist threat from individuals and small groups based in the U.K.”
A 45-year-old man appeared in court on May 1 on a charge of attempted murder over the attack in Golders Green, an area with a large Jewish population, in what officers have called a suspected terrorist incident.
Somalian-born Essa Suleiman, who has UK citizenship, is also charged with attempted murder in relation to a separate incident earlier on April 29 in south London in which he allegedly attacked Ishmail Hussein, described in court as a former friend, leaving him with minor injuries.
Police are also investigating whether the arson incidents have possible Iranian links, after British security officials warned that Iran was using criminal proxies to carry out hostile activity.
Over the past four weeks, the Metropolitan Police said they had arrested around 50 people for anti-Semitic hate crimes and charged eight individuals.
On top of that, 28 arrests have been made as part of investigations alongside counterterrorism policing for arson and other serious incidents.
Outside London, in October 2025, there was also an attack on a synagogue in Manchester, the British city with the second-largest Jewish population after the capital, which resulted in the deaths of two Jewish men, one of whom was mistakenly killed by police responding to the attack.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, in a speech on May 5, said that the spate of attacks was “part of a pattern of rising anti-Semitism that has left our Jewish communities feeling frightened, angry, and asking whether this country, their home, is safe for them,” according to a statement.
In the speech, alongside the 25 million pounds ($34 million) additional funding announced last week for extra police protection for British Jews, Starmer said the government was investigating whether a “foreign state” was behind any of the recent attacks.
“Our message to Iran, or to any other country that might seek to foment violence, hatred or division in society, is that it will not be tolerated. That is why we are fast-tracking legislation to tackle these malign threats,” he said.
Starmer also announced that the government would crack down on anti-Semitism in schools and universities, the National Health Service, and the arts.
“Every part of society has a responsibility to respond with determination and force. Because there are too many people who don’t see antisemitism for what it is: anti-Jewish hatred, racism, pure and simple,” he said.
Rachel Roberts contributed to this report.
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