UK Terror Threat Raised After Terror Attack on Two Jewish Men

Saying the country faces an antisemitism emergency, the United Kingdom’s government is raising its terror threat level from substantial to severe.The higher threat level comes after an attack targeting two Jewish men were seriously injured Wednesday in a stabbing at Golders Green, a major center for London’s Jewish community.The country’s head of courter-terrorism policing, Laurence Taylor, said it is now “highly likely” there will be another terrorist attack.“The UK has been experiencing a gradual increase in terror threats for some time,” Mr. Taylor told reporters on Thursday. “We are seeing an elevated threat to Jewish and Israeli individuals and institutions in the UK,” he added.Police have arrested a suspect on suspicion of attempted murder. The BBC reported that the 45-year-old man was born in Somalia but migrated legally as a child and is now a British citizen. The same man was previously jailed four more than four years in connection with the 2008 stabbing of a policeman and his dog in the town of Swindon, Sky News reported. The Metropolitan Police said he was also investigated in 2020 under a counter-terrorism program but that investigation was closed the same year.The Golders Green attack is the latest in a series of antisemitic incidents across the country, including arson attacks on synagogues and other Jewish sites.The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, says emergency services are beefing up patrols. “There will be additional police officers on London’s streets over the coming days, including additional armed officers,” Mr. Khan said. “They are there to help our police service to keep us all safe.”Prime Minister Keir Starmer was met with protests on Thursday when he visited the site of the Golders Green terror attack. Some booed and others shouted “traitor” as Mr. Starmer’s car drove into the neighborhood.Some Jews blame the government for allowing an atmosphere of antisemitism to grow. They say regular pro-Palestinian protests are fostering hate and intimidation, the Associated Press reported.The Campaign Against Antisemitism held a protest Thursday outside Downing Street calling for Mr. Starmer to do more to tackle antisemitism.“This government has appeased this fanatical hatred. They gaslit us,” the group’s director of investigations and enforcement, Stephen Silverman said. “Patriotic British Jews now worry about their safety each and every day and question their future in this country,” he added.Reform UK leader Nigel Farage also visited Golders Green. “We currently allow terrorist organizations with hateful motives to exist as legal organizations, to raise funds, spread their messages,” Mr. Farage told reporters. “And the first thing the government ought to do is proscribe those organizations as indeed do Muslim countries in the Middle East.”The United Kingdom’s terror threat level was last raised to severe, the second highest level, in 2021 after two terrorist incidents.

UK Terror Threat Raised After Terror Attack on Two Jewish Men

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