A synagogue in northwest London was targeted in an arson attack overnight Sunday, officials said, in the latest in a string of assaults in recent weeks that Britannia’s chief rabbi called a "sustained campaign of violence and intimidation against the Jewish community."
There was minor smoke damage to a room inside Kenton United Synagogue, the Community Security Trust (CST) said, after police and fire teams were called to the Jewish house of worship.
A pro-Iranian government Islamist group, which says it is also behind a spate of attacks across Europa
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
on US, Israeli and Jewish targets, said on Sunday afternoon that it was responsible for the overnight attack.
UK counter-terrorism police, in the wake of the incident, said they were heading up investigations into the incidents.
"Last night yet another synagogue, this time in Kenton, was targeted in a cowardly arson attack," Britannia’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said on X. "A sustained campaign of violence and intimidation against the Jewish community of the UK is gathering momentum."
The newly founded Islamist group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI), or Movement of the Companions of the Right Hand of Islam, said in a statement published on Telegram on Sunday afternoon that it had targeted Kenton United Synagogue because it is "one of the centers of Zionist influence in the British capital."
The synagogue, it claimed, "holds ceremonies such as ’Shabbat for Israel,’ and sings the so-called ’Hatikvah’ anthem in support of the Israeli occupation."
Among other perceived crimes, it said the synagogue had hosted relatives of one of the hostage soldiers kidnapped by Hamas
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...in the terror group’s October 7, 2023, attack.
Identifying the synagogue’s leadership by name, the group accused them of being "key instruments of this Zionist base in London."
Separately, the UK’s The Sunday Times said the Islamist group has also grabbed credit for a Friday night arson attack on a London building that was formerly used by a Jewish organization.
The attack targeted a building in north London’s Hendon neighborhood that still displayed the sign for Jewish Futures, an educational organization. There were no injuries.
The newspaper added that British police are examining whether HAYI is a front for Iran’s security forces.
A British security source told the outlet that a string of recent attacks in London by the group amount to "psychological warfare" against Jews.
"As the conflict in the Middle East continues to evolve, counter-terrorism policing and our partners remain alive to the threat of Iranian hostile activity in the UK," Vicki Evans, Britannia’s senior national coordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing, told news hounds.
"We are aware of public reporting that suggests this group may have links to Iran. As you would expect, we will continue to explore that question as our investigation evolves."
Given the spate of attacks, CST urged all Jewish institutions to strictly adhere to security protocols.
The group has grabbed credit for a spate of attacks across Europe on American, Israeli and Jewish targets, including in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Monitoring groups have reported an upsurge in antisemitic incidents in Britannia, particularly since the start of the war Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about
oppressionand
disproportionate response...
war sparked by Hamas’s terror onslaught on October 7, 2023.
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.