A victim of the Golders Green terror attack has spoken from his hospital bed to say he 'definitely' holds the Labour government responsible for his injuries and failing to protect British Jews.
Victim's Account
Shloime Rand, 34, an Orthodox Jew, revealed he had been stabbed in the chest by the knifeman after he left a north London synagogue and believes it is a 'miracle' he is alive. But he also alleged that Sir Keir Starmer and his administration is 'not doing its job' to protect Jewish people in the UK. Asked whether he felt let down by the Government, he said 'definitely'.
He said: 'The Government, they are the ones that are able to take care of the problems. And they are not doing their job. People are really concerned, people are afraid, people are uncomfortable walking in the street, people are blaming obviously the government for not doing anything about what's going on.'
His words came as Sir Keir Starmer pledged 'a swift, agile and visible' response today as he convened a meeting in Downing Street following the horrific scenes in Golders Green. While his Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said she was treating the protection of Jewish communities as an 'emergency'.
But speaking to ITV News, Mr Rand, who was stabbed along with Moshe Shine, 76, said: 'It's for the past few months really that our community is suffering from these type of attacks. And now it's going on and trying to take people's lives and it's really terrible.'
Mr Rand said he was stabbed in the chest after leaving his synagogue and was only alerted when he saw the attacker sprinting towards him. 'He looked angry, he looked angry. You could feel it in his facial expressions, it was like he was out to get me.' He went on: 'Thanks to God that I am recovering, and the wound isn't so bad as they initially thought. I am here and I can talk, and it's really a miracle that has happened to me today.'
Government Response
The Government has unveiled £25million of funding to boost police patrols and protections around synagogues, schools and community centres. Legislation creating powers to target people and organisations acting on behalf of state-sponsored groups will also be 'fast-tracked' in the coming weeks. However, community leaders and Tories insisted the investment was 'not sufficient', and there had to be action against 'Islamist extremism and jihadism'.
There are fresh demands for a ban on pro-Palestine marches, with critics adamant they contribute to 'a tone of anti-Semitism'. The Government's independent adviser, Lord Mann, warned that British Jews are at 'breaking point' and might begin leaving the country.
Police across the UK have stepped up patrols in response to the attack that saw two Jewish men – Shloime Rand, 34, and 76-year-old Moshe Ben Baila, named locally as Moshe Shine – taken to hospital after being stabbed on Golders Green Road. A 45-year-old man, said by police to be a Somali-born British national, was arrested following the incident.
Community Reaction
The stabbings are the latest in a series of attacks on Jewish sites over recent weeks and have prompted calls for urgent action and accusations the Government has not done enough to tackle anti-Semitism. Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis called for 'meaningful action' to tackle the 'root causes' of anti-Semitism, while the Board of Deputies of British Jews said anti-Semitism must be 'confronted, punished and deterred with the full force of the state'.
Furious protesters chanted 'Starmer out' at the scene yesterday, while Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley was heckled with boos and shouts of 'resign' and 'shame on you'. Protesters also chanted 'Keir Starmer, Jew harmer' and 'shame on Sadiq Khan'.
Ms Mahmood confirmed to Sky News today that the suspect is 'a 45-year-old man, he was born in Somalia and came to this country as a child in the 1990s, and is a British national'. She also signalled she would consider banning the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an Iranian military group, as she faced questions about the new laws.
Ms Mahmood acknowledged that 'we have seen a spate of attacks in recent weeks' on the Jewish community that are under investigation, adding: 'Some of those have been claimed by groups that claim to be linked to the Iranian regime, those claims are also being investigated. We have seen this spate of attacks, I think it's right that the police have the space to get on with their job.'
Iranian-linked terror group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiyya (HAYI) claimed responsibility for the attack yesterday but intelligence sources suggested this was 'opportunistic'. It has taken responsibility before for acts it did not commit.
Meanwhile Ms Mahmood accepted there was a 'gap in the law' for banning organisations 'that may be linked to hostile states' – and new laws mean authorities will be able to 'go after those proxies in the same way that we would those individuals acting directly for a terrorist organisation'. She also said she took responsibility for what the Jewish community is facing, adding: 'It is my job as home secretary to respond to the threats that our country is facing. I am very alive to the risks that are being faced by our Jewish community... I fully understand the community doesn't feel safe because of the attacks.'
International Reaction
The Israeli foreign ministry shared graphic video footage of the attacks which showed Mr Shine being stabbed at the bus stop and said: 'Enough words.' It wrote on X: '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. Prime Minister Keir Starmer's statements are no substitute for confronting the roots of anti-Semitism festering across the United Kingdom. British Jews should not need security patrols and emergency volunteers to live openly as Jews. Enough words. The UK must act decisively and urgently.'
Responding to the attack, Keir Starmer vowed that the Government would address the causes of anti-Semitism, provide more funding for security at Jewish sites and tackle 'malign state actors' linked to recent violence. He is also expected to meet criminal justice agencies later today to discuss the incident, and said he would visit Golders Green 'as soon as possible'. But the Prime Minister will face pressure to go further, including calls to ban pro-Palestinian marches.
Jonathan Hall, the former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said it was currently 'impossible' for such marches not to 'incubate' anti-Semitism. Describing recent attacks on Jews as a 'massive national security emergency', he called for a 'moratorium' on pro-Palestinian marches. His comments were echoed by the Chief Rabbi, who said 'hate marches' together with 'purposeful anti-Israel demonisation' had contributed to 'a tone of anti-Semitism' in the UK.
Opposition politicians have also joined calls to ban the marches, with Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch saying it was 'quite clear they are used as a cover for violence and intimidation against Jews'. Shadow attorney general Lord Wolfson said 'higher walls around synagogues, more guards and more stab vests for people patrolling our schools and now police officers checking up on kosher restaurants' amounted to 'palliative care' rather than a 'cure'. 'They are necessary, but not sufficient,' he told Times Radio. 'Unless we're prepared to identify what are the primary drivers of the current spate of anti-Semitism, we are not going to be able to identify a cure for it because anti-Semitism is a mutating virus. When I was a kid in the 70s, the threat came from the far right. But now it comes from Islamist extremism and jihadism. And we need to be open and clear about that.'
Police Action
Meanwhile, police forces across the country said they would step up patrols in Jewish areas in response to yesterday's attack. Greater Manchester Police said it had deployed extra officers around the city, with a 'high-visibility presence within our Jewish communities in north Manchester, Bury and Salford'. West Yorkshire Police and Thames Valley Police both said they would increase patrols to 'provide additional reassurance'.
In London, counter-terrorism officers investigating the attack said they were also searching an address in the south-east of the city after it was reported the suspect had been involved in a prior 'altercation' with another person. A joint statement from Detective Chief Superintendent Luke Williams, the regional basic command unit commander, and Barnet Council chief executive Cath Shaw said a 'significant number of officers' would be in the area to support the investigation. 'This gives police officers temporary powers to stop and search people in the area without needing specific suspicion, where there is a risk of serious violence,' the statement said. 'This is a preventative measure designed to deter further criminality. We were already deploying an increased number of Counter Terrorism Response Vehicles to respond to suspicious activity.' They said there would be an 'increased policing presence in and around schools, transport hubs, high footfall areas and faith venues'.
