london —
A week of attacks on synagogues and other public buildings has created an atmosphere of heightened anxiety in London’s Jewish community.
But this series of anti-Semitic crimes has also strengthened the resolve of some of those affected.
The rabbi of Kenton United Synagogue in Harrow, northwest London, which was attacked by an arsonist over the weekend, posted on social media on Sunday images of his congregation gathered to pray at his home.
“We must not be deterred by what is happening in the world. We must not let it affect us as Jews in any way,” Rabbi Yehuda Brak said in X.
Michael Wegeer, chief executive of the British Jewish Parliamentary Committee, told CNN that the community feels “uneasy but resilient”.
“We hear from people who are worried about sending their children to Jewish schools or coming to synagogue, but we also hear the exact opposite,” he said in a phone interview. “There are people who are saying, ‘We’re not going to be scared, we’ve been here since the mid-17th century and we’re not going anywhere.'”
The Kenton attack caused minor smoke damage, but no one was injured, according to the Community Security Trust (CST), a charity that protects Jewish communities. Two people were arrested Sunday night in connection with the incident.
It was the latest in a series of arson attacks in recent weeks. Last month, arsonists set fire to four ambulances belonging to a Jewish charity in Golders Green, north London. Four people were later charged by police.
Tensions then escalated last week with attacks on the site of a synagogue and Jewish charity in north London.
Two people have been arrested in connection with an attempted arson attack at Finchley Reform Synagogue in the early hours of Wednesday morning. On the same day, a Persian-language media outlet opposed to Iran’s Islamic regime was also attacked. Three people were charged with “arson with intent to endanger life.”
According to the Metropolitan Police Department, a total of 15 people were arrested in connection with the arson incident.
The Metropolitan Police’s counter-terrorism officer said they were investigating Ashab al-Yamin, which claimed responsibility for most of the attacks, as well as others in mainland Europe.
In its latest report, CST revealed that there were 3,700 anti-Semitic incidents last year, the second highest number in a single calendar year. The highest rate was in 2023, the year Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, starting a brutal war in Gaza.
Meanwhile, the latest Home Office figures show Muslims were the most targeted religious group in England and Wales, with 4,478 incidents in the year to March 2025. However, the much smaller Jewish community has been proportionately far more affected, with 2,873 incidents, meaning the Jewish community has experienced more than eight times as many incidents per capita.
“An ongoing campaign of violence and intimidation against the British Jewish community is gaining momentum,” Federal Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said in a statement sent to CNN. “This sustained attack on our community’s ability to worship and live safely is an attack on the values that unite us all. Thank God, no lives have been lost, but we cannot and should not wait for things to change before we realize how dangerous this moment is for our entire society.”
None of this is news to British Jews, who are still reeling from the attack on a synagogue in Manchester on Yom Kippur last October that left two people dead.
More than eight in 10 British Jews (82%) think antisemitism is a “very big” or “quite big” problem, according to the Jewish Policy Research Institute, a think tank. However, fewer and fewer people are prepared to speak out publicly due to safety concerns.
A Jewish father of three in his 40s, who requested anonymity, told CNN that his children attend a Jewish primary school in north London. “When I’m crossing the road to school, I’m afraid someone will step on me and run me over. And when they’re outside the school gates, I just want to get them out as quickly as possible, but when they’re at school, I don’t feel safe either.”
“There are a few security guards, but no one will be able to stop people from using weapons and attacking,” he added.
“It’s scary,” the woman, who asked to be identified only as Sharon, told CNN. She lives in Hendon, a north-west London suburb that has a large Jewish community and where one of last week’s incidents took place.
“Following the recent wave of anti-Semitic attacks targeting the Jewish community in this country, as a British Jew who was born and raised in London and now lives in a large Jewish community, I am disturbed and frightened. I am particularly concerned about my safety in Jewish spaces such as synagogues and kosher restaurants,” she said.
Colin Goldstein, who works in the tech industry and lives in the Finchley area, told CNN: “What worries me most is the increasing severity of the attacks, particularly the murders in Manchester, but also how close they are to where I live and where our family lives. I am determined not to be intimidated by terrorists and will continue to go to synagogue regularly as usual.”
“However, I am concerned that unless substantial action is taken urgently to combat anti-Semitism in the UK in the coming days, the future of British Jewry becomes very uncertain.”
