Police probe attempted arson at former Jewish charity site in Hendon

A man carrying a plastic bag holding three bottles of liquid tried to set it alight outside the former site of Jewish Futures in Hendon, prompting another counter-terror investigation in north-west London.

Police were called at 10:31pm on Friday, 17 April 2026, after the man was seen approaching a row of shops. He placed the bag beside a building and attempted to ignite it before fleeing when the bottles failed to fully catch fire. Officers said the shopfront suffered minor damage and nobody was injured.

Counter Terrorism Policing London is leading the investigation, with support from Metropolitan Police officers. The force said the incident is not currently being treated as a terrorist attack and that officers are keeping an open mind about motive, but the similarities to a series of recent arson cases have placed it firmly within the wider security response.

Those earlier cases include the firebombing of four ambulances used by the volunteer-led Jewish emergency service Hatzola in Golders Green on Monday, 23 March 2026; an attempted arson attack at Finchley Reform Synagogue shortly after midnight on Wednesday, 15 April 2026; and a fire at the offices of a Persian-language media organisation in north-west London at about 8:30pm that same day. Counter Terrorism Policing said on 16 April that multiple arrests had been made in connection with those incidents.

The Golders Green attack was especially serious. The ambulances were set on fire and gas cylinders on the vehicles exploded, prompting precautionary evacuations of nearby homes. There were no injuries. Police later treated the Finchley Reform Synagogue incident as an antisemitic hate crime.

The Hendon site has added to concern in the local Jewish community because it was the former home of Jewish Futures, a Jewish educational charity. The incident has also drawn attention to online claims by individuals purporting to be from Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiyah, or HAYI, who said they were targeting Jewish Futures. Those claims have also been linked online to the Golders Green ambulance fire and alleged activity near the Israeli embassy in London, though police have said there was no incident at the embassy.

Commander Helen Flanagan of Counter Terrorism Policing London said the Hendon case is not being linked at this stage to the other incidents, but that counter-terror officers are leading because of the similarities. Detective Chief Superintendent Luke Williams said officers have been speaking extensively with community leaders since the Golders Green attack and that the policing response will include a heightened presence, armed patrols and Project Servator deployments. Senior National Coordinator Vicki Evans said the attacks have unfolded against a backdrop of global instability and sustained hostile activity on UK soil, underlining how quickly repeated targeted arson can become a national-security concern.