2 arrested in London synagogue arson

London police nab two suspected of attempting to torch local synagogue, as man who climbed into Israeli embassy goes on trial.

By World Israel News Staff

British police arrested two people on Thursday over an attempted arson attack on a London synagogue that authorities are treating as an antisemitic hate crime, in the latest incident to rattle the UK Jewish community.

The arrests came a day after two masked suspects targeted Finchley Reform Synagogue in north London shortly after midnight, throwing a brick and two bottles suspected of containing petrol at the building.

The bottles did not ignite, and there were no injuries or major damage.

Police said a 46-year-old man and a 47-year-old woman were detained in Watford on suspicion of arson endangering life.

The Metropolitan Police said the case is being investigated as an antisemitic hate crime, with support from counterterrorism officers.

Investigators said the suspects approached the synagogue in dark clothing and balaclavas before carrying out the attack.

“This was an attempt to intimidate and threaten British Jews,” synagogue leader Cantor Zöe Jacobs said.

She added that the congregation would not be cowed and would continue to stand “proudly and visibly as Jews.”

The attempted firebombing came amid broader concern about antisemitic violence in Britain. The Community Security Trust said in its 2025 annual report that anti-Jewish hate incidents in the UK remained at levels far above those seen before Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, with more than 200 incidents recorded in every month of 2025.

The synagogue case also followed another recent antisemitic arson incident in north London, when Jewish community ambulances were set ablaze in Golders Green. Police have said there is currently no evidence linking the two attacks.

In a separate case which underscored security concerns around Israeli and Jewish-linked sites in Britain, London’s Old Bailey heard this week that a man accused of trying to climb into the Israeli embassy while carrying two knives had previously entered the UK twice by small boat from France.

Prosecutors allege he was acting with terrorist intent, while he denies the charges.