UK raises terrorism threat level after stabbings as Starmer says Jews are scared

LONDON: Britain raised its national terrorism threat level to "severe" from "substantial" on Thursday (Apr 30), a day after an antisemitic stabbing attack in north London as Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Jewish people were living in fear and vowed stronger action to protect them.

The increase to the second-highest threat level out of five means a terrorist attack within the next six months is highly likely, following Wednesday's stabbing of two Jewish men in the Golders Green area, the government said. It was decided independently by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre.

Britain last faced such a threat level in November 2021, after the Liverpool Women's Hospital bombing and the killing of lawmaker David Amess, before it was lowered to "substantial" in early 2022.

Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood said the assessment reflected the latest intelligence and a longer-term rise in extremist threats, and was not made solely in response to the Golders Green attack.

Officials said the classification came against a spate of recent attacks in London and mounting security concerns linked to foreign states which they said had helped fuel violence, including against the Jewish community.

UK BOOSTS SECURITY

The United Kingdom government also on Thursday announced an extra £25 million (US$33 million) for security outside synagogues and schools.

The government said that would bring the total funding this year to £58 million.

Two Jewish men were stabbed on Wednesday in north London in broad daylight in what police said was a suspected terrorist incident.

Police said the two victims, aged 76 and 34, were both in a stable condition in hospital, and officers, some of whom the suspect also attacked, had arrested a 45-year-old man after stopping him with a Taser stun gun.

There have been arson attacks on synagogues and other Jewish sites in the area and a deadly attack in which two people died at a synagogue in Manchester last year.

"People have a sense of deep insecurity ... and that is why the government is bringing forward investment, an additional £25 million to invest in the security of our Jewish community," interior minister Shabana Mahmood told Sky News.

"That will pay for more protective security for our Jewish synagogues, schools, places of worship, community centres," she added.

The suspect is a British national, born in Somalia, the Metropolitan Police said in a statement. He was initially taken to a hospital, but has since been discharged and taken to a London police station where he remains in custody.

Detectives believe the suspect was also involved in a separate altercation earlier on Wednesday in southeast London. The suspect was armed with a knife in that incident and a person received minor injuries, the police said.

"PEOPLE ARE SCARED"

Starmer, who has faced severe criticism from some in the Jewish community for the government's response, promised more police in Jewish areas, a crackdown on those spreading antisemitism, and new legislation to deal with state-sponsored threats from the likes of Iran.

"People are scared, scared to show who they are in their community, scared to go to synagogue and practice their religion, scared to go to university as a Jew, to send their children to school as a Jew, to tell their colleagues that they are Jewish," Starmer said in a televised statement.

He had earlier been jeered and heckled by a small crowd waving banners reading "Keir Starmer Jew Harmer" when he visited Golders Green where the latest attack took place.

Rabbi Ben Kurzer, of the Golders Green Synagogue, called on the government to do more to protect Britain's Jews.

"There is definitely not a significant police presence on a regular basis in these areas. We have little bits here and there, but most of the security that we're seeing is private," he told BBC Radio.

A little-known group believed to be linked to Iran, and which has claimed responsibility for the London arson attacks, said one of its "lone wolves" was behind the stabbings, the SITE Intelligence Group reported.

Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI) - meaning The Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand - made the uncorroborated claim in a video posted online, according to SITE.

Britain's independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Jonathan Hall, told the BBC the attacks had become "the biggest national security emergency" since 2017, when there was a string of high-profile attacks.

The attacks have occurred amid warnings from security officials that Iran has sought to use criminal proxies to carry out hostile activity.

Police said after an arson attack at a synagogue this month that they were investigating possible Iranian links to the incidents. A pro-Iranian government group has said it was responsible.

NEW LEGISLATION TO BE FAST-TRACKED

Britain's government on Thursday said it would introduce new legislation to tackle state-sponsored threats carried out by proxies.

Mahmood said the legislation will deal with "a gap in the law when it comes to organisations that may be linked to hostile states" and their proxies.

Security minister Dan Jarvis told Times Radio the government would fast-track legislation which would allow the prosecution of people acting as a proxy of a state-sponsored group under Britain's National Security Act.

The government said the new powers would mean proxies could be dealt with in the same way as foreign intelligence services.

Last year the government of Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced it would give police greater powers to restrict protests.

They were aimed at allowing police to take into account the "cumulative impact" of frequent protests.

Monitoring groups have reported a surge in antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents in Britain, particularly since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.