Two Jewish men were stabbed in the Golders Green neighborhood of north London on Wednesday morning in an attack the Metropolitan Police have formally declared a terrorist incident. The victims, aged 34 and 76, are both in stable condition.
Police received reports of stabbings on Highfield Avenue, which runs off Golders Green Road, at 11:16 BST. Footage circulating on social media afterward appeared to show an older man putting on a kippah at a bus stop before an attacker lunged at him. A local pizza shop worker named Tariq Aziz said he helped the 76-year-old victim after seeing him bleeding from his neck.
The Jewish volunteer security group Shomrim was among the first to respond. The organization, which conducts civilian patrols through Jewish communities in north London, received a call to its hotline about a man stabbing people and dispatched members to the scene. "We were first on scene, and we apprehended him together with the police," said Ben Grossnass of Shomrim.
The Washington Post reported that British authorities are investigating potential links to Iran in connection with the attack and a broader pattern of recent incidents targeting Jewish properties and institutions in London.
The stabbing came after what Grossnass described as a sustained stretch of attacks on the community. In recent weeks, arson fires struck Jewish properties, and ambulances belonging to Hatzola — a Jewish medical charity — were destroyed. Synagogues and community centers have also been targeted.
"We haven't got over yet from the previous incident, and this has happened," Grossnass told the BBC. "It's just one after another and we [are] just crying out to the government to listen to us, feel the pain of the community. What's going on?"
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood responded Wednesday, vowing that the government will "strain every sinew" to keep the Jewish community safe. She said she would not tolerate a situation where Jewish citizens must "lead smaller lives" to stay safe and promised an enhanced police presence.
The attack arrives against a complicated legal and political backdrop. In a separate development reported Wednesday, the UK's independent terrorism watchdog, Jonathan Hall, warned in his annual report that British counterterrorism laws risk being stretched beyond their original scope. Hall's report, which examined the use of terrorism legislation during 2024, raised concern that the broad legal definition of "terrorism" — particularly its treatment of serious property damage — could pull protest activity into counterterrorism policing even where there is no intent to harm people.
Hall pointed specifically to the July 2025 banning of pro-Palestine group Palestine Action, which he said had exposed "real uncertainty" over whether property damage alone should qualify as terrorism. Since the ban, roughly 3,000 arrests have been made, most for displaying placards in support of the group. The government is currently appealing a High Court ruling that found the ban unlawful on free speech grounds. Mahmood said she would review Hall's recommendations before responding.
