London mayor boosts patrols after stabbing of two Jewish men in Golders Green

London’s mayor ordered extra high-visibility patrols in Golders Green after what he called an “appalling attack on two Jewish Londoners,” a stabbing that deepened alarm in a north London community already on edge after a run of antisemitic violence. Two Jewish men, one in his 70s and the other in his 30s, were attacked on Wednesday as police treated the case as an apparent antisemitic assault.

The Metropolitan Police said both men were taken to hospital and were stable, while other reports described their injuries as serious. Officers arrested a 45-year-old suspect on suspicion of attempted murder after he allegedly tried to stab police as well. Counter Terrorism Policing took the lead in the investigation and examined possible terrorism links before the Metropolitan Police later declared the stabbing a terrorist incident.

The attack unfolded in Golders Green, a heavily Jewish area in Barnet, about 300 yards from the site of an earlier arson attack on four Hatzola ambulances parked outside a synagogue. That earlier blaze, involving volunteer-led ambulances used by the Jewish community, had already drawn counterterrorism scrutiny, and police later said a fourth person had been charged in connection with it. The proximity of the two crimes has sharpened anxiety among local residents and placed added pressure on authorities to show that heightened policing is more than a symbolic response.

Shomrim, the neighborhood-watch group, said its volunteers were first on the scene and detained the suspect before police arrived. Hatzola medics initially treated the victims. Sadiq Khan said police had stepped up patrols in the area and thanked emergency services and volunteer responders, as City Hall and the Metropolitan Police sought to reassure a community that has repeatedly faced targeted attacks.

The incident lands amid a wider surge in antisemitic violence in Britain. The Community Security Trust, which advises the country’s estimated 280,000 Jews on hate crimes and safety, recorded 1,521 antisemitic incidents in the first half of 2025 and 3,700 across 2025, its second-highest annual total on record. In Golders Green, where recent incidents have included the ambulance arson attack, the latest stabbing is being read not as an isolated shock but as part of a broader pattern that officials are now being pressed to confront with faster, tougher prevention measures.