Chief Rabbi: British Jews saddened by ambulance attack but will not be cowed

Britain’s Jewish community will not be “cowed” or “intimidated” following the overnight arson attack in London, the Chief Rabbi has insisted.

Sir Ephraim Mirvis said while the incident had left people shocked and saddened, the community will continue “standing tall” and living as “proud British citizens”.

The attack was on four ambulances which are part of the Jewish community ambulance service, Hatzola in Golders Green, north-west London in the early hours of Monday.

No injuries have been reported.

It is the latest in a series of incidents said by some to have left Britain’s Jews feeling vulnerable, frightened and a “deepening sense of isolation”.

The latest official figures on hate crime recorded by police in England and Wales showed Jewish people had the highest rate of religious hate crimes targeted towards them than any other faith group.

In the year to March 2025, there were 106 religious hate crimes per 10,000 population targeted at Jewish people, the Home Office said in figures published in October.

Separate figures covering the 12 months of 2025, published earlier this year by the Community Security Trust (CST), which monitors antisemitism in the UK, concluded the second-highest annual total ever recorded for anti-Jewish hate incidents, at 3,700 – up 4% on the 3,556 incidents recorded in 2024.

The CST said the annual record high remained at 4,298 antisemitic incidents reported in 2023 – the year of the October 7 attack, which prompted a spike in recorded cases of anti-Jewish hate in the UK.

The 2025 report was also the first time more than 200 cases of anti-Jewish hate were recorded in every calendar month.

The report noted that dozens of antisemitic incidents were reported in the aftermath of the deadly Manchester synagogue attack, some celebrating what had happened.

Worshippers Melvin Cravitz and Adrian Daulby were killed when 35-year-old Jihad Al-Shamie, a Syrian-born British citizen, drove into the gates of the Heaton Park synagogue in Crumpsall, Manchester, in October last year, and then began attacking with a knife, wearing a fake suicide belt.

It was the first fatal antisemitic terror attack in the UK since the CST began recording incidents in 1984.

Sir Ephraim, who visited the scene in Golders Green on Monday, told the Press Association it is “highly lamentable” that synagogues, schools and other Jewish facilities “can now only function behind walls, behind gates”.

He said the community is grateful for the “significant amount of security which is being provided to us by our Government in the same way as previous governments have provided, together with police forces”, adding: “You can never have too much security – the more we get, the better.”

Striking a defiant tone, he said while the community is feeling “so shocked today and so saddened, nothing’s going to terrorise or intimidate us to stop functioning in genuine strength”.

He described the response to this latest incident as “one of strength, of fortitude, of resilience”.

He added: “We’re not going to be cowed. We’re not going to be intimidated by terrorists, and this was a terrorist attack.

“Nothing’s going to stop us from standing tall as Jews and behaving in a way, according to our tradition, as proud British citizens.”

Counter-terrorism police are leading the investigation into the arson attack and while it is being treated as an antisemitic hate crime by the Metropolitan Police it has not been classed as terrorism at this stage.

Echoing the chief rabbi’s sentiment, CST chief executive Mark Gardner said there is “a lot more resolve than you might expect from British Jews all across the country”.

He told PA: “Maybe it’s because of everything that they’ve been through for the last two-and-a-half years (since the October 2023 Hamas attack).

“British Jews are determined to lead the life of their choice. But, at the same time, a lot of people are taking precautions in public, and nobody should blame them for doing so.”

He said some people feel the need to be careful around what name they use when booking a taxi, while others have expressed concern about being treated in hospitals if staff realise they are Jewish.

He said: “These are the kind of things where the concern about the levels of general antisemitism impacts the upon the dignity of British Jews.”

Earlier this month a number of arrests were made of individuals on suspicion of spying for Iran on locations and individuals linked to the British Jewish community.

Mr Gardner said while this had “caused great concern to the Jewish community, police and Government, the reaction from the media and from political activist groups was at best muted”.

He added: “Compare that to the reaction that would have followed if Israeli agents had been arrested on similar charges relating to British Muslims. The contrast is profound and deeply worrying.”

Damon Hoff, president of Machzike Hadath synagogue where the ambulances were parked, said the community was “feeling vulnerable and feeling frightened, but we’re not going to let that get us down”.

Dov Forman, a campaigner against antisemitism and the great-grandson of Holocaust survivor Lily Ebert who died in 2024, said the Jewish community “can’t just keep besieging ourselves”.

The local resident said he knows young Jewish people who are leaving the country because they do not feel safe, adding: “This will only add to that.”