Starmer condemns Zack Polanski for sharing post criticising police at Golders Green stabbings

“Officers need confidence in confronting these dangerous people, and if an eminent person thoughtlessly steps into that and undermines that, then I’m going to deal with that.”

In other interviews on Friday, Rowley said his force would need more resources to protect Jewish communities, and that he was concerned about the possible scale of two protest marches planned in London during May.

Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, and Ed Davey, who leads the Liberal Democrats, also called on Polanski to apologise. Badenoch said: “If someone Zack Polanski loved had just been stabbed, I don’t think he would be worried about how the police were disarming that person.”

In Polanski’s statement, issued on Friday afternoon, he apologised for the post, saying: “Everyone in leadership has a responsibility for lowering the temperature at a time of such tension, and I apologise for sharing a tweet in haste.

“Police responses to emergency situations such as these do need later reflection in the right forums, but I accept that social media is not the appropriate channel for doing so. I have invited Mark Rowley to meet with me to discuss the police response and the wider issues raised in his letter.’

He also said in a separate social media post that during a campaign visit to Hastings, East Sussex, a group of protesters directed Nazi salutes at him. He added: “Today the prime minister uses his office to attack the only Jewish party leader to score political points.”

The row came as the director of public prosecutions for England and Wales, Stephen Parkinson, promised to firmly tackle all hate crimes, warning of a “deeply troubling rise in antisemitic incidents across the country”.

In a statement on Friday, Parkinson said he recognised the “profound fear, distress and anger” that Jewish people were feeling, adding: “Antisemitic hate crime is not only an attack on individuals – it is an attack on the values of respect, tolerance and the rule of law that underpin our society.

“Let me be clear: those who commit antisemitic crimes will be held accountable. The Crown Prosecution Service will use the full force of the law to ensure those responsible are prosecuted robustly and swiftly, and justice is done.”

Essa Suleiman, 45, appeared in court on Friday charged with the attempted murders of three people during two knife attacks in London on Wednesday – the incident in Golders Green and an alleged attack during a personal dispute in south London.