UK raises national terror threat level after the stabbing of Jewish men

Britain raised its national terrorism threat level from ‘substantial’ to ‘severe’, the second highest level of five, the day after the anti-Semitic stabbing attack, meaning intelligence agencies believe a terrorist attack is highly likely in the next six months.

Australians visiting Britain have been urged to exercise extreme caution as tensions flare in London.

“Be alert to the risks and take official warnings seriously,” the government’s Smartraveller service warned.

The level of terrorism in Britain is determined by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Center and the Security Service (MI5).

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Jewish people are living in fear in the aftermath of the attack, which police have called an act of terror with possible links to Iran.

“People are afraid, afraid to show who they are in their community, afraid to go to synagogue and practice their religion, afraid to go to university as a Jew, to send their children to school as a Jew, to tell their colleagues they are Jewish, and even to use our NHS,” Starmer said yesterday.

“No one should have to live like this in Britain, but Jews do.”

He promised security measures would change in the wake of the attack in Golders Green in north London

Starmer argued at the scene of the terror attack

Starmer was mobbed by around 100 protesters holding signs reading ‘Keir Starmer, Jews Damager’ as he visited the site where two Jewish men were stabbed in a terrorist attack.

Commenting, the Prime Minister said: “I absolutely understand the high levels of fear and concern that are out there.”

“Anti-Semitism is an old, old hatred. History shows its roots run deep and if you turn away it grows back,” he said during a televised statement at Downing St.

“Yet far too many people in this country downplay it.”

A 45-year-old man, who is also accused of stabbing police officers, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

Two men – one in their 70s and one in their 30s – were injured in the attack in Golders Green and are in a stable condition in hospital, police added.

No officers were injured

Police have labeled the attack an act of terror as officers look into a claim by a group known as Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia (HAYI), whose name means the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right, that it was behind the attacks.

The Israeli government has described the group as a recently established group with suspected ties to “an Iranian proxy” that has also claimed responsibility for synagogue attacks in Belgium and the Netherlands.

An online claim of the same name also claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s stabbing. But security experts say the name is more of a flag of convenience than a coherent group, and the claims should be treated with caution.

However, Britain has accused Iran of using criminal proxies to carry out attacks on European territory, targeting Iranian opposition media and the Jewish community.

Britain’s domestic intelligence agency MI5 says more than 20 “potentially deadly” Iranian-backed plots were disrupted in the year ending in October.

“This has now been formally declared a terrorist incident,” Laurence Taylor, head of London’s counter-terrorism police force, said in a statement. Police are investigating “whether this attack was deliberately targeted at the Jewish community in London,” he added.

Anti-terrorism officers are leading the investigation and are working to determine the suspect’s nationality, background and possible terrorist ties, police said.

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