Golders Green stabbing suspect charged with attempted murder as UK threat level raised to 'severe'

Essa Suleiman, 45, has been charged with two counts of attempted murder following Wednesday's stabbing of Shloime Rand, 34, and Moshe Shine, 76, on Highfield Avenue in Golders Green, police announced on Friday. Suleiman, a British national born in Somalia, was also charged with attempted murder in relation to a separate incident on the same date in Great Dover Street, as well as possession of a bladed article in a public place. 

Both victims were treated at the scene and taken to the hospital. Counter Terrorism Policing is leading the investigation after the attack was formally declared a terrorist incident. The UK has raised its national terror threat level from "substantial" to "severe," meaning a terrorist attack is considered highly likely within the next six months, following the stabbing.

The Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre announced the upgrade on Thursday, with security minister Dan Jarvis stressing the increase was "not solely as a result of that attack" but had also been "driven by an increase in broader Islamist and extreme right-wing" threats.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood called the Golders Green attack "an abhorrent, antisemitic attack" and "a vile act of terrorism," saying she would "do everything in our power to rid society of the evil of antisemitism." 

In response, the government announced an additional £25 million in funding for Jewish community security, bringing the total to £58 million this year, described as the largest such investment in history. Funding will go toward increased police presence and patrols, added protective security at synagogues, schools, and community centers, and the expansion of Project Servator, placing specialist and plainclothes officers trained to identify individuals preparing to commit serious crimes. London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan said extra police, including armed officers, would be deployed on the capital's streets.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who was jeered by angry protesters during a visit to Golders Green on Thursday, said he understood the "high levels of anxiety and concern" in the Jewish community and pledged to fast-track legislation giving the Home Secretary new proscription-like powers to ban state-backed organizations posing a threat to national security. 

He also vowed to introduce stronger powers to shut down charities promoting antisemitism, prevent hate preachers from entering the country, and speed up sentencing for antisemitic attacks. "We need stronger powers to tackle the malign threat posed by states like Iran," Starmer said, calling on "everyone decent in this country to open their eyes to Jewish pain, Jewish suffering, and Jewish fear."

Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley referred to a rise in "racist and antisemitic hate crime" and said police were aware that some people were being encouraged or paid to commit acts of violence by foreign organizations and hostile states. Iran's embassy in the UK said it "categorically rejects" allegations of involvement in "violent activities or incidents in the United Kingdom," calling such accusations "baseless" and saying they "lack credible evidence and appear to serve narrow political agendas."

The Golders Green stabbing is the latest in a series of incidents targeting the UK Jewish community. The Metropolitan Police's counter-terrorism unit is investigating six antisemitic incidents in London since late March, including arson attacks on two synagogues, a former Jewish charity building, four Hatzola ambulances in Golders Green, and a communal residential block in Barnet. Two Jewish people were also killed in October last year in a car ramming and stabbing attack outside a synagogue in Manchester. 

Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor said the UK had been "experiencing a gradual terrorist threat for some time," adding, "Our casework is increasing across a number of ideologies, and within that, we are seeing an elevated threat to Jewish and Israeli individuals and institutions in the UK."