King Charles, Prime Minister Keir Starmer and London mayor Sadiq Khan led the condemnation of the “appalling” assaults in Golders Green, which is home to a large Jewish population.
Police said a 45-year-old man had been arrested after having also tried to stab officers. The two victims – aged 76 and 34 – were in a stable condition in hospital.
Speaking from the scene and facing heckles from some in the local community, Metropolitan police commissioner Mark Rowley said the suspect has “a history of serious violence and mental health issues.”
“Let me be clear: this is an attack on one community (and) an attack on one community is an attack on all London’s communities,” Rowley added.
Starmer echoed the sentiment, saying on X that “attacks on our Jewish community are attacks on Britain” while vowing “those responsible will be brought to justice.”
The UK leader will convene an emergency meeting of senior ministers and officials later on Wednesday, according to the area’s MP, Sarah Sackman.
King Charles, who is on a state visit to the United States, said he was “deeply concerned” in a statement issued by Buckingham Palace.
The stabbings come after a spate of arson attacks on synagogues and other Jewish sites in north London in recent weeks that have heightened security fears for the community.
Israel’s foreign ministry condemned Starmer’s government shortly after Wednesday’s incident.
“After attacks on synagogues, Jewish institutions, community ambulances and now Jews targeted in Golders Green, the UK government can no longer claim this is under control,” it said on X.
Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, Head of UK Counter Terrorism Policing, said the stabbings had “now formally been declared a terrorist incident.”
Counter-terror officers and the capital’s Metropolitan police were “also working with the security services to ensure we have a full intelligence picture,” he added.
“One of the lines of enquiry is whether this attack was deliberately targeting the Jewish community,” Taylor noted, standing outside the Met’s New Scotland Yard headquarters in central London.
The incident unfolded shortly after 11:00 am (1000 GMT), with the Shomrim Jewish neighbourhood watch group first reporting that a knife-wielding man was “attempting to stab Jewish members of the public.”
Shomrim members helped detain the suspect before police arrived and subdued him using a taser. The response of the Jewish volunteers’ earned widespread praise.
The victims were also treated at the scene by Hatzola, a Jewish volunteer ambulance service.
The stabbings follow a deadly assault on a synagogue in Manchester last October on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur.
That attack killed two people and seriously injured three, prompting increased anxiety among Jewish communities.
“Why do we have to live in fear? We’re doing our best to live our lives as normal as possible but everyday is a struggle,” Shomrim volunteer Stephen Bak said at the Golders Green scene on Wednesday.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan called the spate of anti-semitic attacks “shocking.”
“There must be absolutely no place for anti-semitism in society,” he added on X.
Ephraim Mirvis, Britain’s chief rabbi, said the community was “strong” and “resilient” but “such attacks need to stop now.”
“Zero tolerance – that’s what our community wants,” he told reporters from the scene.
“Our society needs to know this is intolerable… We would like to see actions added to words.”
The first London attack in late March saw four ambulances belonging to Hatzola set ablaze.
Other incidents have followed, including an attack on the Kenton United Synagogue in Harrow as well as the premises of a Jewish charity.
Last week, the Finchley Reform Synagogue was targeted.
Police have arrested at least 26 people for the various attacks, launched since the start of the US-Iran war on Iran on February 28.
Many of the incidents have been claimed by a little-known group, believed to be linked to Iran, called Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI), meaning The Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand.
Monitoring groups have reported an surge in anti-semitic and Islamophobic incidents in Britain, particularly since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
The Community Security Trust recorded 3,700 instances of anti-Jewish hate across the UK last year, a four-percent rise on 2024, but down on 2023. (AFP)
