By: Tzali Reicher

Two Jewish men were stabbed in the predominantly-Jewish neighborhood of Golders Green in London on Wednesday morning. The attack unfolded shortly after 11 a.m. local time, when a 45-year-old male suspect armed with a knife lunged at the visibly Jewish men.

The attacker was quickly restrained by the Shomrim volunteer community security group, who held him until Metropolitan Police arrived at the scene and took him into custody. Hatzola transported the victims, aged 76 and 34, to the hospital.

Head of Counter Terrorism Policing Laurence Taylor said the attack has been declared a terrorist incident.

It was the latest in a series of antisemitic attacks that have struck British Jews.

Since the Hamas terrorist attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, a wave of antisemitic violence has swept through the United Kingdom. Pro-Palestinian demonstrations, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, have marched through London’s streets week after week, shouting genocidal slogans aimed at Israel and the Jewish people. Against that backdrop, attacks on Jewish institutions have escalated into regular incidents of harassment, vandalism, arson and even murder.

In October 2025, a terrorist carried out a car-ramming and knife attack outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Manchester during Yom Kippur morning prayers, resulting in the death of two people and seriously injuring three others. The attacker, a 35-year-old British citizen of Syrian descent, was shot dead by police.

In March 2026, four Hatzola emergency ambulances were firebombed at their base in the car park of a local synagogue in Golders Green, causing the vehicles’ oxygen tanks to explode in a series of blasts heard across the neighborhood. Three of the suspects were remanded in custody shortly after the attack; a fourth was charged in April.

In April 2026, synagogues in Finchley, Hendon and Kenton were targeted in suspected arson attacks on three consecutive days.

And on Wednesday, the knifeman in Golders Green.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, addressing the House of Commons shortly after news of the stabbing emerged, called it “utterly appalling,” and wrote on social media: “Attacks on our Jewish community are attacks on Britain.” A Downing Street spokesperson acknowledged that the Jewish community now faces “a daily threat” from antisemitic hatred.

Following the attack London Mayor Sadiq Khan confirmed that Metropolitan Police will be increasing its policing in Jewish neighborhoods. “We need a permanent increased visibility in this community to deter bad people and terrorists from trying to attack this community,” he said. Shomrim volunteer security group has also increased its patrols in Jewish neighborhoods, and community leaders are liaising with police and officials to ensure the community’s safety.

Rabbi Bentzi Sudak, director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Hampstead Garden Suburb in London, said British Jews are going through a difficult period.

“It’s an unsettling time,” he said. “There are attacks often, and we don’t see change happening.” The British government’s cycle of condemnation and expressions of concern, he noted, have become a routine pronouncement without consequence.

But Rabbi Sudak’s message, echoing that of the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—is not one of defensiveness or despair.

“Being afraid is natural, but we have to be soldiers,” he said. “Soldiers don’t win wars by telling each other how scary it is out there. They win by reminding each other of their mission and purpose, and the fact that they will succeed.”

He draws a parallel to what British Jews are experiencing.

“We must have a passion for what we are living for, rather than what we are defending ourselves against. Precisely when we’re being challenged, that’s when we need to show strength and courage in who and what we are: We stand for our connection to G‑d through Torah, mitzvot and the universal message and example that they empower us to set.”

He added: “Now is the time to be driven by a bold and proud vision for our Jewish community and its purpose in the world.”

(Chabad.org)