UK Police Chief warns Jews face ‘greatest ever threat’ after antisemitic attacks

Britain’s official terror threat level was raised from substantial to severe following Wednesday’s stabbing attack in Golders Green.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Britain’s most senior police officer warned Friday that antisemitism has reached unprecedented levels, saying Jewish communities face their greatest threat to date as authorities confront a series of attacks and rising tensions.

Mark Rowley, head of the Metropolitan Police, said British Jews are being targeted by a wide range of extremist actors, which he linked in part to the influence of social media.

“The ghastly fact is that Jews are on everybody’s list, all of those hateful groups, whether you’re extreme right, whether you’re extreme left, whether you’re Islamist terrorist, whether you’re right-wing terrorist, and some hostile states as well now with some sort of Iranian-related threats,” he told The LondonTimes. “There’s a ghastly Venn diagram that they’re at the middle of.”

Britain’s official terror threat level was raised from substantial to severe following Wednesday’s stabbing attack in Golders Green.

The severe designation is the second-highest on a five-point scale and indicates intelligence agencies assess an attack to be highly likely within six months.

A 45-year-old man was charged Friday with attempted murder after two Jewish men were stabbed and wounded in Golders Green, a London neighborhood central to the city’s Jewish community. Authorities classified the incident as terrorism.

The attack follows a series of incidents in London, including recent arson attacks targeting synagogues and other Jewish sites.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said stronger measures may be required to address extremist slogans at demonstrations after criticism from Jewish leaders.

“When you see, when you hear some of those chants — ‘globalize the intifada’ would be one I would pick out — then clearly there should be tougher action in relation to that,” Starmer told the BBC.

The term intifada, commonly translated as “uprising,” has been used to describe periods of Palestinian violence against Israelis.

The First Intifada (1987–1993) and the Second Intifada (2000–2005) involved sustained attacks.

The latter, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, included suicide bombings and armed confrontations that resulted in more than 4,000 deaths.