View at burnt Ambulances in a parking lot at Golders Inexperienced in London, Monday, March 23, 2026 after an obvious arson assault on 4 automobiles belonging to a Jewish ambulance service, Hatzola Northwest, in London.
Alberto Pezzali/AP
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Alberto Pezzali/AP
LONDON — 4 ambulances belonging to a Jewish charity had been set on hearth early Monday in London in what British police are investigating as an antisemitic hate crime. Detectives are working to find out whether or not a declare of accountability from a bunch with alleged hyperlinks to Iran is genuine.
Although it has not been labeled as a terrorist incident, counterterror officers have been put in control of the investigation. Nobody was injured within the nighttime assault, which shattered home windows in close by properties and left the automobiles charred shells.
“We’re pursuing all traces of inquiry, together with a web based declare of accountability by an Islamist group who’ve claimed different assaults throughout Europe and have potential Iranian state hyperlinks,” mentioned Mark Rowley, chief of London’s Metropolitan Police.
Non secular and political leaders condemned what Prime Minister Keir Starmer referred to as a “horrific” assault.
“Antisemitism has no place in our society and it is actually vital that all of us stand collectively at a second like this,” mentioned Starmer, who met Jewish neighborhood leaders at 10 Downing St. on Monday to debate the response to the assault.
Officers had been referred to as to Golders Inexperienced, a north London neighborhood with a big Jewish inhabitants, after receiving experiences of a hearth, the Metropolitan Police power mentioned. 4 ambulances belonging to Hatzola Northwest, a volunteer group that gives emergency medical response, had been broken, in response to the London Fireplace Brigade.
Oxygen cylinders on the automobiles exploded, breaking home windows in an adjoining house block. Close by properties had been evacuated as a precaution.
What gave the impression to be footage from a safety digital camera confirmed three figures in black sporting hoods carrying a canister towards one of many ambulance earlier than flames erupted across the car. Police mentioned they’re searching for three suspects however no arrests have been made but.
Police attempt to authenticate declare of accountability
A video posted on Telegram, allegedly by an Islamist group referred to as Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, confirmed a map of the situation the place the ambulances had been stored and photographs of them on hearth. A bunch of the identical title, which interprets because the Islamic Motion of the Companions of the Proper, beforehand claimed accountability for synagogue assaults in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Israel’s authorities has referred to as it a not too long ago based group with suspected hyperlinks to pro-Iran networks.
“The speedy development in recent times of Iranian state threats is grave,” Rowley advised the annual dinner of the Neighborhood Safety Belief, which works to offer security for the Jewish neighborhood group. However he mentioned “it’s too early for me to attribute final evening’s assault in Golders Inexperienced to the Iranian state.”
The assault unfold concern and alarm by Britain’s roughly 300,000-strong Jewish neighborhood, which feels more and more susceptible.
Mark Reisner, who lives within the neighborhood, heard loud explosions and arrived on the scene “simply because the third ambulance was blowing up,” he advised Sky Information.
“A really loud explosion, you type of felt it undergo your guts,” he mentioned, including, “it is simply left us all reeling with confusion and shock.”
Earlier assaults on UK Jewish neighborhood
The variety of antisemitic incidents reported throughout the U.Okay. has soared since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, assault on Israel and Israel’s ensuing battle in opposition to Hamas in Gaza, in response to the Neighborhood Safety Belief, which works to guard the Jewish neighborhood. The group recorded 3,700 incidents in 2025, up from 1,662 in 2022.
In October 2025, an attacker drove his automotive into individuals gathered exterior a Manchester synagogue to have fun the Jewish vacation of Yom Kippur and stabbed one individual to loss of life. One other individual died through the assault after being inadvertently shot by police.
Final week two males in London had been charged with finishing up “hostile” surveillance final yr of the U.Okay.’s Jewish neighborhood on behalf of Iran.
Rowley, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, mentioned the power would enhance safety for Jewish faculties, synagogues and neighborhood facilities forward of Passover subsequent month,
Some members of the neighborhood criticize Starmer’s Labour Occasion authorities for failing to forestall pro-Palestinian demonstrations from tipping into anti-Jewish speech and acts.
Peter Zinkin, a Conservative politician who represents Golders Inexperienced on the native council, mentioned the neighborhood felt “misery and anger.”
“Burning ambulances in the midst of the evening is a shame,” he mentioned. “And you need to ask your self, why did it occur? And the explanation I am afraid that it occurred is that the federal government and the media, significantly sure components of the media, have validated antisemitism on a national scale.”
Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally, the top of the Anglican Church, mentioned “such acts of violence, hatred and intimidation haven’t any place in our society.”
Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis referred to as it a “sickening assault.”
“At a time when Jewish communities around the globe are going through a rising sample of those violent assaults, we are going to meet this second with shared resolve and stand collectively in opposition to hatred and intimidation,” he wrote on X
