London's Metropolitan Police arrested a 37-year-old man on Sunday on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts, the latest development in an ongoing counter-terrorism investigation into a series of attacks targeting the Jewish community across the city.
The man was arrested at an address near Barnstaple, in Devon, and transferred to a police station in London for questioning. Since an arson attack on Hatzola ambulances in Golders Green on March 23, officers have arrested a total of 26 people. Eight have been charged with arson-related offences and one person has already been convicted of arson.
The attacks have hit multiple targets. Four ambulances belonging to the Jewish charity Hatzola were destroyed in the Golders Green arson. In April alone, a brick and petrol bottles were thrown at Finchley Reform Synagogue, an ignited container was hurled at the offices of Persian news organization Volant Media, a bag of lit fluid was placed in the doorway of a building in Hendon formerly used by the charity Jewish Futures, bins were set alight outside a communal block in Barnet, and a bottle of accelerant was thrown through the window of Kenton United Synagogue in Harrow. Investigators also found jars of a non-hazardous substance in Kensington Gardens.
An Islamist group with suspected Iranian links, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, claimed responsibility for the ambulance attack and other incidents in the UK and Europe.
Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis, whose synagogue at Kenton United was among the targets, said the Jewish community was "filled with anxiety." He said he had asked the prime minister to "guarantee the normalisation of antisemitism in the UK will stop, and that there will be zero tolerance."
