How Many More Warnings Do We Need? |
Four Jewish ambulances burned outside a London synagogue, shocking — but not surprising.
The world woke up last Tuesday to the news of yet another antisemitic attack in the UK, this time in the form of an arson attack, where 3 masked individuals set alight 4 Hatzolah ambulances outside a synagogue in Golders Green, London.
The police were surprisingly quick to label this as an antisemitic attack. Tweets started flooding in from political leaders such as the UK’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer, declaring “This is a deeply shocking antisemitic arson attack” and “Antisemitism has no place in our society.” We need to ask ourselves a simple question- Is condemnation really enough to stop this?
27th September 2025-a late Saturday night-I sat down at a pub in Manchester. Not even 60 seconds pass before my kippah (Jewish head covering) catches her attention. A middle-aged woman approaches and leans right over me, demanding answers: “Do you believe in genocide?” “Do you believe in free Palestine?” Trying to de-escalate and enjoy my pint in peace, I respond, “Let’s keep politics away from the pub.” She repeats herself in a more aggressive tone, and then picks up my pint, throws it in my face, and runs out straight into a taxi.
With just 12 hours until my flight, the police agree to meet me the next morning to take a statement. I gave them a very clear message:
If you don’t deal with the minor antisemitic attacks-there will be something way bigger, and it will be too late.
5 days later, just 0.5 miles from that pub, the Yom Kippur attack-when Jihad Al-Shamie, an Islamist terrorist, committed a heinous act of terrorism, leaving 2 Jews murdered in cold blood.
Following the shocking terror attack, I hoped the police would finally enforce a zero-tolerance policy on minor antisemitic attacks, especially the antisemitic assault that happened to me at the pub 5 days prior, as they had promised during the interview. I stayed hopeful for 4 months, until the case was closed with no action taken. What does that tell us?
The Jewish community in the UK has reached a stage where they often don’t bother calling the police after antisemitic assaults or attacks, because receiving a crime reference number and a “we won’t tolerate antisemitism in our society” condemnation isn’t enough.
When British political leaders and police turn a blind eye to hundreds of antisemitic assaults in the UK, while thousands march and scream “globalize the intifada,” and Israelis are banned from attending a football game on British soil, does that reduce antisemitism- or risk encouraging it?
If the UK is serious about making Jews feel safe, they must end these marches calling to “globalize the intifada,” and crack down on every single minor antisemitic attack.
What starts small doesn’t stay small.
A group calling themselves “Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand” has claimed responsibility for the arson attack on the Hatzolah ambulances, and several other arson attacks targeting synagogues in Europe over the past month. This terrorist organisation has ties to the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps), yet the UK still fails to formally proscribe the IRGC as a terrorist organisation. We must ask ourselves: What signal does that send to those willing to attack Jews?
The warning signs are there. They’ve been there. At what point are they actually going to be taken seriously?