UK police charge man with stabbing attack on two Jewish Londoners / Photo: Handout - Metropolitan Police/AFP/File
UK police charge man with stabbing attack on two Jewish Londoners
UK police announced Friday they have charged a 45-year-old man over the stabbing of two Jewish men in north London, the latest in a string of attacks targeting Britain's Jewish community.
The capital's Metropolitan Police said Essa Suleiman, of Camberwell, south London, had been charged with three counts of attempted murder and one count of possession of a bladed article in a public place.
One attempted murder count relates to a separate south London incident Wednesday in which the knife-wielding Suleiman allegedly had "an altercation" with the occupant of a flat, according to the Met.
The other charges cover the attack in Golders Green, a north London area with a large Jewish population, which has left the community feeling increasingly vulnerable and highly critical of authorities.
A British national who was born in Somalia and came to the UK as a child, Suleiman will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court later Friday.
The Golders Green stabbing, which unfolded in broad daylight, was promptly declared a "terrorist incident", with Counter Terrorism Policing leading the ongoing investigation.
Two men -- aged 76 and 34 -- were treated at the scene for stab wounds before being taken to hospital. The 34-year-old has since been released while the 76-year-old remains in a stable condition in hospital, police said.
"We are determined to get justice for the victims," Commander Helen Flanagan, who is leading the investigation, said in its statement.
"Now that a person has been charged, I would urge everyone to avoid any further speculation in relation to this case so that justice can run its course."
- 'Jewish pain' -
Facing accusations from angry British Jews that his government has repeatedly failed to protect them, Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed Thursday to boost security for the Jewish community.
He faced boos and heckles when visiting the scene of the attack.
Later, in a televised address from Downing Street, he urged Britons to unite against antisemitism, calling on "everyone decent in this country to open their eyes to Jewish pain, Jewish suffering and Jewish fear".
Met Police Commissioner Mark Rowley told Times Radio on Friday the UK was "facing a building pandemic of antisemitism in society".
"My problem is what we're dealing with in policing, we're dealing with the symptoms of that disease," he added.
"We need work done upstream to tackle those attitudes in society which are far too prevalent."
The interior ministry has announced that the country's terrorism threat level had been raised to "severe", the second highest in the five-tier system.
It means another attack "is highly likely in the next six months".
The ministry has also confirmed an extra £25 million ($33 million) would pay for more protective security for Jewish synagogues, schools, places of worship and community centres.
It comes nearly seven months after a deadly attack at a synagogue in Manchester, and a recent string of arson incidents targeting Jewish sites in north London.
Monitoring groups have reported a surge in antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents in Britain, particularly since the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza began.
Starmer is under growing pressure to place fresh curbs on contentious pro-Palestinian protests, which critics claim are a hotbed of antisemitism.
His government last year handed police increased powers to regulate them.
Nigel Farage, leader of the hard-right Reform UK party, visited the Golders Green attack scene Thursday and accused the authorities of being too "soft" on "discriminatory" chants.
W.Prendergast--NG
