A knife attack in Golders Green has heightened fears among British Jews, with many feeling unsafe in the UK. Antisemitic incidents have surged, prompting concerns from community leaders about the safety of Jewish residents.
Key points
Knife attack in Golders Green left two men stabbed
Incident heightened fears among British Jews
John Mann says community feels unsafe
Rising antisemitic attacks reported
Community Security Trust supports Jewish safety
Mentioned in this story
Community Security TrustJohn MannGolders Green
Good morning. It is a terrible fact of life for British Jews that few were surprised by Wednesday’s knife attack in Golders Green, north London, in which two men were stabbed in an area home to a large Jewish community. A 45-year-old man has been charged with attempted murder.
The incident is the latest in a string of antisemitic attacks, on people and property, that have struck fear into many British Jews in recent years. John Mann, the government’s independent adviser on antisemitism, said many in the community are at “breaking point” and feel the UK is no longer a safe place for them to live.
To discuss the attack and what life is like for British Jews amid rising hate crimes against the community, I spoke with Dave Rich, director of policy at the Community Security Trust, which supports Jewish safety in Britain, and the Guardian’s community affairs correspondent, Aamna Mohdin, who has been on the ground in Golders Green. But first, the headlines.
Five big stories
Iran | Iran’s supreme leader has broken his recent silence with a defiant statement hailing Iran’s control over shipping in the strait of Hormuz and vowing to guard the country’s nuclear and missile programmes.
Environment | Governments have been asked to develop national “roadmaps” setting out how they will end the production and use of fossil fuels, after a landmark climate meeting involving nearly 60 countries.
UK news | Winston Marshall, a former member of the band Mumford & Sons and the son of the GB News co-owner Paul Marshall, has said Britain should construct a mine-laden “floating wall” to stop small boat crossings on the Channel.
Counter-terrorism | More and more young people are being drawn into the world of violent extremism, a senior police officer has warned, as a young neo-Nazi was convicted of planning a mass gun attack after being caught in an undercover MI5 sting.
Q&A
What happened in Golders Green that affected the Jewish community?
A knife attack occurred in Golders Green, resulting in two men being stabbed, which has intensified fears among the local Jewish community.
How has rising antisemitism impacted British Jews' daily lives?
Many British Jews report feeling unsafe and at a 'breaking point' due to a rise in antisemitic attacks and hate crimes.
Who is John Mann and what is his role regarding antisemitism in the UK?
John Mann is the government's independent adviser on antisemitism, and he has expressed concerns about the safety and well-being of the Jewish community in the UK.
What is the Community Security Trust and its mission?
The Community Security Trust is an organization that supports Jewish safety in Britain, working to protect the community from antisemitic threats.
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UK economy | The Bank of England has left interest rates unchanged at 3.75% but said the UK may need to brace for increases later this year, as “higher inflation is unavoidable” as a result of the war in the Middle East.
In depth: ‘Extreme, hateful, violent attitudes have become normalised’
Protesters hold signs reading “Keir Starmer, Jew harmer”
Protesters yesterday gathered to heckle Keir Starmer near the site of the Golders Green attack. Photograph: Ben Whitley/PA
Wednesday’s attack in Golders Green was not a one-off. In March, volunteer-run ambulances operated by the Jewish community were set on fire in the north London suburb, the first in a series of arson attacks that include the firebombing of a synagogue and community symbols across the capital. And police have been investigating groups backed by the Iranian regime in connection with antisemitic attacks.
In October last year, an Islamist terrorist drove a car into a synagogue in Heaton Moor, Manchester before stabbing worshippers on Yom Kippur**,** which left two men dead. This February, three men were convicted over a foiled IS-inspired terror plot to massacre Jews in Manchester. Jewish people now suffer the highest rate per capita of religious hate crime in England and Wales.
The steady drumbeat of antisemitic incidents has brought fear into mundane, everyday tasks for British Jews. Some hide or remove symbols that might identify them as Jews. Others are too scared to go to particular areas, with a growing number contemplating leaving the country. As Jewish families sit down for Shabbat dinner this evening, many will reflect again on whether the UK is safe for them in the wake of another attack.
“Antisemitism in the day-to-day boring stuff that never makes the news has become utterly normalised in the Jewish experience in this country,” says Dave Rich. “There is a growing frustration that not enough effective action is being taken to deal with it. That covers policing, government and the wider society, where extreme, hateful, violent attitudes and language have become normalised. When you speak to anyone from the Jewish community in Britain, there might be a level of shock, but nobody is surprised that attacks like this are happening.”
Rich recalls a recent Passover dinner with friends who were reflecting on antisemitic interactions in their day to day life: a question at a night club over what one person “thought of the Jews”, another conversation with someone who was convinced “the Jews did 9/11”.
“That’s now a normal part of the Jewish experience in this country,” he says.
‘Legitimised hatred’
Jewish people make up 0.5% of the UK population – and many at the moment feel vulnerable, targeted and alone, Rich tells me. Add to that their sense that the response to recent antisemitic hate incidents has been muted, and many Jewish people say it leaves them with the feeling that others simply do not care that Jews are being targeted.
In particular, Rich highlighted antisemitism among those one would expect to be allies of minorities, people who would otherwise consider themselves progressive liberals, pointing out that too often legitimate criticism of Israel slips into hatred of Jews in the diaspora.
“The 76-year-old Jewish man who was stabbed in Golders Green, he’s not a serving IDF soldier,” Rich says. “It’s ridiculous. There is an atmosphere of legitimised hatred – not criticism, not opposition, but hatred – towards Israel, not as a state and a government but as a nation and people, that has developed and taken root in liberal opinion and left-wing opinion. This atmosphere of hatred by definition is uncontrollable and generates more hatred and more attacks. And it slips very, very easily from hatred of Israel to hatred of Israelis to hatred of Jews.”
Rich also identifies a particular issue with antisemitism among a small portion of British Muslim society, which must be delicately addressed. No doubt it helps that several leading British imams have condemned the Golders Green attack and expressed their solidarity with the Jewish community.
“If you look at opinion polling … in Britain and in other countries, it consistently shows that levels of antisemitism are higher, significantly higher, among Muslim communities than they are in the population as a whole,” says Rich. “I have to stress, not most Muslims. And also not most of the antisemitism in society … but it’s far too high.
“People are very nervous about raising this issue,” says Rich, and he is keen to stress that “there are genuine sensitivities because anti-Muslim prejudice is a real problem as well in this country, and there are extremist voices on the far right who will always try to exploit these issues”. But he argues the perception of this problem is inflated by avoiding it: “One of the ways that enables the far right to do that is if there is a vacuum because no one else is talking about these issues in an evidenced and measured and constructive way.” Rich points to a rise in antisemitic sermons in some UK mosques after the 7 October massacre in Israel by Hamas, and the subsequent war in Gaza.
“We need measured, evidence-based, proportionate and effective policy measures, working with people in Muslim communities and across society as part of a broader counter-extremism effort,” he says.
Actions, not words
The prime minister, Keir Starmer, has said the stabbings on Wednesday were “an attack on all of us”, urging swift action from the criminal justice system, and promised his government would do “everything in our power to stamp this hatred out”. The UK terrorism threat level was raised on Thursday to “highly likely”, its second-highest level, and the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has committed an extra £25m to increase security for Jewish communities.
But many are unconvinced. Starmer was heckled during a visit near the site of the attack yesterday, with a crowd of around 100 people chanting “Keir Starmer, Jew harmer”.
The London mayor, Sadiq Khan, has said Jewish Londoners want to see actions, not words, and said he was in discussions with the Met police to establish a new unit countering extremism in the capital.
Shock and fear
In Golders Green, many in the community expect another attack, says Aamna Modhin, who was on the ground after the incident. She said people in the leafy London suburb were in shock, gripped by fear, and were openly questioning their place in Britain, with families cordoned off from reentering their homes after the stabbing.
“People I spoke with said this was an attack on Britain, not only Jews, and there was a sadness that the feeling wasn’t shared. There was also defiance. Others said to me that nobody was going to scare them off from wearing a star of David or a kippah in public,” she said.
Mohdin points to chronic government underinvestment in community relations that have led to this point, saying that they have not taken cohesion seriously for more than two decades. Big reductions in funding for interfaith exchanges have helped foster distrust, leaving a gap for extremists. While there are no easy answers, the pockets of interfaith cooperation had to be encouraged and provided with more resource, she said.
“Almost every religious and community group I speak with talks about their distress, isolation and loneliness,” says Aamna Mohdin. “A feeling that they have been abandoned by the government. What does that say about the British state right now?”
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Sport
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The front pages
Guardian front page, Friday 1 May 2026
“PM vows to act against protesters ‘venerating the murder of Jews’” is the Guardian’s splash headline. “An attack on all of us” – that’s the Mirror. “Why was he free to roam the streets with a knife?” the Daily Mail asks, in relation to the suspect. The Express has a very long headline positing that antisemitism “reveals diseased minds and corrupt societies” and referring to the Holocaust.
The Times runs with “UK terror threat ‘severe’ after antisemitic attacks”. The Green leader provides the Telegraph’s angle: “Met accuses Polanski of stoking tensions”. Top story in the Financial Times is “ECB and BoE warn of rate rises as Iran war takes toll”. The i paper carries “Rayner’s warning to Starmer: more and more young people are feeling hopeless”. “Mayday! for landlords” – the Metro refers to rental law reforms.
Something for the weekend
Our critics’ roundup of the best things to watch, read, play and listen to right now
Matthew Rhys and Stephen Root in Widow’s Bay.
Holiday from hell … Matthew Rhys and Stephen Root in Widow’s Bay. Photograph: Robert Clark/Apple TV
**TV
Widow’s Bay | ★★★★★**What do you do if you want your charming little island off the coast of New England to become the next Martha’s Vineyard, but it’s full of legends about local cannibalism, sea hags, clown killers, poison fog and boogeymen who slaughter teenage girls in their beds? And what if it is full of sea hags, poisoned fog and clown killers, which doesn’t bode well for the mythical status of the cannibalism and boogeyman tales. Such is the dilemma posed by Widow’s Bay for its mayor, Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys), in a 10-part series that in the very best way defies categorisation. Horror may be its most obvious element, but it is so much more than that. Still, for fans of that genre, the writer-creator Katie Dippold and Hiro Murai, the director of the first five episodes, deliver the goods, lovingly covering most of the tropes. Lucy Mangan
Games Forbidden Solitaire, PC | ★★★★★
In Forbidden Solitaire, lead character Will Roberta picks up an old 1990s game called, yes, Forbidden Solitaire, in a charity shop. He discovers that the game is a sort of narrative card-battler set in a haunted dungeon filled with monsters and treasure – and then you, the player, are transported from his computer desktop into the game. In order to progress through the cursed building, and to fight the various ogres, serpents and witches, you need to win rounds of solitaire. But of course, it’s more complicated than that. Compelling you forwards, from one battle to the next, is the game’s brilliant, incredibly authentic recreation of mid 1990s PC game aesthetics. Keith Stuart
Theatre
I Saw Satan at the 7-Eleven, Soho theatre, London | ★★★★☆
No one tells a story like Christopher Brett Bailey. One minute he’s buying eggs at a gas station and the next he’s careening down the highway with the devil, the car deliberately swerving to increase their body count. This live reading of his surreal 2023 novella is a free-wheeling piece of storytelling, vividly and viciously told. In a fringed leather jacket with snakeskin boots and his signature freshly electrocuted hair, Brett Bailey recounts with eerie calmness an accidental road trip with a Satan who is a has-been, a conspiracy nut, and with a bloated ego and a desire to shag anything that moves – plus some that don’t. Kate Wyver
**Film
The Sheep Detectives | ★★★☆☆**Here is a murder mystery that’s like a cross between Babe and The Thursday Murder Club, in which instead of plucky underdog retirees solving crimes, it’s … sheep? With a touch of Watership Down somewhere in the mix, this film, for some, may be off-putting. Actually, it makes for a sweet-natured family comedy. Screenwriter Craig Mazin has adapted the bestselling book Three Bags Full by German crime author Leonie Swann, and the Despicable Me veteran Kyle Balda directs, shepherding a boisterous herd of live-action stars and digitally created woolly performers. Peter Bradshaw
Today in Focus
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Helen Pidd and Peter Walker on the local elections and why the Green party has surged in the polls
Cartoon of the day | Ben Jennings
Ben Jennings on the antisemitic terror attack in Golders Green – cartoon
Illustration: Ben Jennings/The Guardian
The Upside
A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad
Dodger the cat, sat on a chair looking really great
Dodger, who was recently reunited with his family having gone missing in 2018. Photograph: Courtesy Amber Davidson-Orozco
“That super sweet, cuddly, social temperament is still there,” said owner Amber Davidson-Orozco after her family had been reunited with their cat more than seven years after he went missing – thanks to a microchip and a chain of kindness.
Dodger disappeared during a cross-country move from California, but was found as a stray and identified years later. “We always thought about him,” his owner said. When they were finally reunited in Georgia, Davidson-Orozco said for her children it felt like “a piece of their childhood had come back” – a reminder that some bonds don’t fade, even with time.
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Bored at work?
And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.
