LONDON: British police said Monday they were investigating a suspected arson attack as an antisemitic hate crime, after volunteer ambulances run by a Jewish organisation were set on fire.
Here is what we know about the setting alight of the four vehicles in London, in which no one was injured and Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned as a “deeply shocking antisemitic arson attack”.
The London Fire Brigade said it was alerted to vehicles on fire at Highfield Court in Golders Green, a north London area with a substantial Jewish population, at 1:40 am (0140 GMT).
Some 40 firefighters called to the scene found that multiple cylinders on the vehicles had exploded, breaking windows in an adjacent block.
London’s Metropolitan Police force said the burnt vehicles were four Hatzalah ambulances belonging to the Jewish Community Ambulance service.
No injuries have been reported and all the fires have been put out, police added.
Nearby homes were evacuated as a precaution while some roads in the area
were closed. Police said in a statement that “the arson attack is being treated as an antisemitic hate crime”.
“We are in the process of examining CCTV and are aware of online footage. We believe we are looking for three suspects at this early stage,” superintendent Sarah Jackson said.
No arrests have yet been made.
Community Security Trust (CST), a charity which monitors antisemitism in the UK, said in a statement on X that it was assisting police in their enquiries.
The London Fire Brigade also said it was investigating the cause of the fire. Starmer said in a post on X that his “thoughts are with the Jewish community who are waking up this morning to this horrific news”.
“Antisemitism has no place in our society,” he added, later calling on Britain’s communities to “all stand together at a moment like this”.
Shomrim North West London, a charity and volunteer neighbourhood watch group, condemned the arson, branding it a “targeted and deeply concerning incident affecting a vital emergency service serving the local Jewish community”.
“An attack on these ambulances is an attack on the safety, wellbeing, and resilience of our community ... There is no place for antisemitism or hate in our society,” the group wrote on Facebook.
The ambulances are run by Hatzola, which was established in 1979 and is operated by volunteers. It provides free medical transportation and emergency response to those living in north London.
“Our Hatzola volunteer ambulance corps is an extraordinary service, whose sole mission is to protect life, Jewish and non-Jewish alike,” Britain’s chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis said on X.
“The targeting of Hatzola by people so committed to terror, hatred and the desecration of life is a most painful illustration of the ongoing battle between those who sanctify life and those who seek to destroy it.”
Monitoring groups have reported an upsurge in antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents in Britain in recent years, particularly during the recent war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
CST recorded 3,700 instances of anti-Jewish hate across the UK last year, a four percent rise on 2024, but down on 2023.
The group likened the attack to recent similar incidents in Belgium and the Netherlands where schools and synagogues were targeted.
“I am not surprised that the Jewish community was targeted. It is a continuous ongoing thing,” 36-year-old Adam Waters, who works for Jewish community organisation, told AFP near the scene of the attack.
