Police hunt suspects after gasoline bottles thrown at North London synagogue

Police in north London were hunting two suspects after bottles suspected to contain petrol were thrown at Finchley Reform Synagogue on Fallow Court Avenue shortly after midnight on Wednesday, April 15, 2026, in what investigators are treating as an antisemitic hate crime. The men, both wearing dark clothing and balaclavas, also threw a brick at the building. Neither bottle ignited, and police said there were no injuries or reported damage.

Detectives from the Metropolitan Police’s North West Command Unit were leading the investigation with support from Counter Terrorism Policing London. By 8:30 a.m., synagogue staff had reported the attack, and police appealed for CCTV, dashcam footage and any other information that could identify the suspects. A witness reference number circulating in local coverage was 1685/15APR.

The incident landed in a community already on edge after the arson attack in Golders Green last month. Detective Chief Superintendent Luke Williams said the community would understandably be alarmed and said officers were working with the synagogue and local leaders while increasing the police presence in the area. Metropolitan Police have also said a further arrest and three charges have been made in relation to the Golders Green arson attack, in which four Hatzola ambulances were set on fire on March 23, 2026.

Finchley and Golders Green MP Sarah Sackman said she was at the synagogue supporting residents and community leaders after the attack and described the incident as shocking. Her presence underscored how quickly a local criminal probe has become a wider test of whether Jewish institutions can be protected from repeat attacks, especially when threats are directed at places of worship.

The Community Security Trust, which protects British Jews from antisemitism, said it had brought in additional officers to the site and urged anyone with concerns to speak to them. The pressure on that work is clear in the numbers: CST recorded 3,700 antisemitic incidents in the UK in 2025, the second-highest annual total on record, after 3,556 in 2024 and below the record 4,298 in 2023. The charity said 2025 averaged 308 incidents a month, double the monthly average in the year before October 7, 2023.

CST also said the most severe antisemitic incident of 2025 was the fatal attack at Heaton Park Synagogue on Yom Kippur, which killed Melvin Cravitz and Adrian Daulby and seriously injured three others. It was the first antisemitic terror attack in the UK to cause deaths since CST began recording incidents in 1984, a grim marker that now hangs over every new alert at a synagogue in Britain.