Police in London have charged a 45-year-old man in connection with the antisemitic knife attack that occurred on Wednesday (29.04.2026) in the British capital. Essa Suleiman is charged with attempted murder and possession of a knife in a public place for the attack against two Jews in the Golders Green neighborhood, as well as attempted murder in connection with another incident that also occurred on Wednesday in another London suburb.
Suleiman, a British citizen of Somali origin who arrived in the country in the 1990s as a child, was arrested at the scene of the attack. According to the Metropolitan Police, he had been referred to a government extremism prevention program in 2022, but his case was closed later that year.
UK terror threat level raised from “substantial” to “severe”
Meanwhile, Britain has raised its terror threat level to “severe” from “substantial,” the highest level, meaning a terrorist attack is highly likely to occur in the next six months, with the government citing rising “Islamist and far-right threats.”
“People are afraid”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has faced harsh criticism from some members of the Jewish community over the government’s response, promised more police in Jewish areas, crackdowns on those spreading antisemitism, and new legislation to tackle state threats from countries like Iran.
“People are afraid, afraid to show who they are in their community, afraid to go to synagogue (…), afraid to go to university as Jews, to send their children to school as Jews, to tell their colleagues they are Jewish,” Starmer emphasized in a televised address.
Earlier, the British Prime Minister was booed by a group of people when he visited an ambulance service in Golders Green. Meanwhile, on Wednesday the government announced a series of measures to protect the Jewish community, including an additional £25 million (€28 million) and increased police patrols. In his address yesterday, Starmer pledged that his government would do “everything possible to eliminate this hatred.” Among the measures he mentioned are stronger powers to suspend charitable groups that promote extremism and crack down on “preachers of hate.”
Legislation will also be fast-tracked to allow prosecution of individuals acting as proxies for state-funded groups, so they can be treated the same way as spies for foreign intelligence services. “We need stronger powers to tackle the malicious threat posed by states like Iran, because we know with certainty that they want to harm British Jews,” Starmer stressed.
The pro-Iranian organization Harakat Assab al Yamin al Islamiya (HAYI), which has claimed responsibility for some arson attacks in London and elsewhere in Europe, stated on social media that it was behind the attack. Pro-Palestinian marches, which have taken place frequently since the start of the war in Gaza on October 7, 2023, triggered by Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel, have also fueled anger in the Jewish community.
Farringdon Station is closed.@BTP say there’s “reports of suspected gas leak, with a small number of passengers reporting feeling unwell”.
Some restrictions on Cowcross Street and Farringdon Road. pic.twitter.com/GtVgywkOnX
— BBC London (@BBCLondonNews) April 30, 2026
“If you stand next to people saying ‘Globalize the Intifada,’ you are calling for terrorism against Jews and those who use this phrase should be prosecuted,” Starmer noted. “It is racism, extreme racism, and it has left a minority community in this country frightened, terrorized, wondering if they belong anywhere,” he added. One week before crucial local elections for the unpopular Starmer, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, speaking from Golders Green, accused the government of being too “soft” on antisemitism.
