North London synagogue ‘targeted by arsonists’ in latest attack on Jewish site

A synagogue in north London has become the latest target of an arson attack against the Jewish community.

Police and fire crews responded to an attempted ‘firebombing’ at Kenton United Synagogue in Harrow overnight.

Officers spotted smoke inside a room and discovered ‘a bottle with some sort of accelerant’ that had been thrown through the window.

There was minor internal smoke damage, but there were no injuries or significant damage, the Community Security Trust (CST) said.

Kenton United Synagogue’s rabbi said their medical room was ‘badly damaged’ in the ‘firebombing’.

The president of the charity behind the synagogue called on the prime minister to declare an ‘epidemic of anti-Jewish hate’ after a spate of other incidents targeting the Jewish community.

There was an arson attack on a Jewish business in Hendon on Saturday, a few days after a synagogue in Finchley, north London, was struck by petrol bombs.

In March, there was an arson attack on the Jewish charity-owned Haztola ambulances in Golders Green, in which three people have since been charged with.

Saul Taylor, of the charity behind the Kenton United Synagogue, said: ‘The government and local police forces have responded well to the recent appalling attacks including Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation and Hatzola ambulances, but it is clear that more must be done to prevent these attacks occurring at all.

‘The prime minister should declare publicly what the Jewish community has known for some time: this is an epidemic of anti-Jewish hate.’

Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis warned that a ‘sustained campaign of violence and intimidation against the Jewish community of the UK is gathering momentum’.

He said: ‘This sustained attack on our community’s ability to worship and live in safety is an attack on the values that bind us all together.

‘Thank God, no lives have been lost, but we cannot, and must not, wait for that to change before we understand just how dangerous this moment is for all of our society.’

A spokesperson for the CST said: ‘We want to thank the Met Police and London Fire Brigade for responding quickly and for all they are doing to protect the Jewish community during this unprecedented period.

‘We are supporting the affected location and are working closely with the police as they investigate and seek to identify those responsible.

‘We urge people to remain vigilant and to report any suspicious activity, at any time of day or night, to the police immediately on 999 and then to CST.’

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said the Met have increased the police presence in the area.

He added: ‘There is no place for anti-semitism in our city, and the perpetrators of these despicable attacks will face the full force of the law. London will always stand united against those seeking to divide us.’

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: ‘A synagogue in London was firebombed last night in what is now terrifyingly becoming a spate of daily arson attacks on the Jewish community.

‘It betrays a cataclysmic failure of the state – politicians, police chiefs and prosecutors – to tackle antisemitic extremism in this country, which has gone largely unchecked for two and a half years. Britain is fundamentally a different country now.’

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