Jewish Londoners describe “horror” and live in fear after latest attacks, demand government action

London – British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was devastated on Thursday during a visit to North London, a day after two Jewish men were injured stabbing attack – the latest in a series of incidents that one of Starmer’s cabinet members has called an antisemitism emergency.

When he arrived in the Golders Green neighborhood, long the center of Britain’s Jewish community, to meet with members of the emergency services, there was a loud commotion and some residents shouted insults including “traitor” and “coward.”

A series of recent attacksincluding burning to direct synagogues and other Jewish sites, has raised public fears.

“It’s very scary,” an Orthodox Jewish resident, who also asked not to be identified, told CBS News. “I can’t believe what’s happening. We have to live in fear – always looking behind us, wondering if someone might attack us with a knife … and even if we’re walking, where are we going? There are people trying to attack us everywhere.”

Residents told CBS News after the stabbing that they were initially shocked and saddened, but not surprised. Those feelings turned into anger for some, and demands for the government to take concrete steps.

“There have been a number of incidents of arson attacks on synagogues, and a large outbreak of antisemitism in our area,” Ben Grossnass, a volunteer with the Jewish community safety organization Shomrim, who was among the first to arrive at the scene Wednesday, told CBS News. “The public is shocked, understandably so.”

Later on Thursday, the government raised the national threat level from “big” to “very bad,” citing the rise of the Islamist threat and extreme right-wing terrorism in the country.

“We need a silent majority to start standing up”

Dov Forman, a 22-year-old author and activist from Golders Green whose grandmother Lily Ebert survived the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz during World War II, said violence had been widely feared in the area for a long time.

No one here is shocked or surprised that this has happened,” Forman said. “We all know after previous attacks that this is not a question of if there will be another attack, but when.”

The government wants to show that it is taking action, announcing the plans on Thursday and an additional $34 million to combat anti-Semitism through increased police patrols and improved security at synagogues, community centers and schools.

But it comes after critics say antisemitic propaganda tends to go too far.

Forman noted chants at other pro-Palestinian protests in Britain where people chanted “calls to ‘intifada’,” which he said “have been allowed to go unchecked in this country for years.”

Forman said the rhetoric is reflected in real violence, people “heeding those calls, taking them seriously, and acting on them — not just attacking Jewish people, but Jewish institutions. That includes synagogues, shops and places like Golders Green.”

Two of Britain’s largest police forces, the London Metropolitan Police and the Greater Manchester Police, announced last December that the police take an “advanced approach” to combating antisemitismarresting protesters who used certain slogans and phrases, due to the increase in hate crimes against Jews in Britain.

“We know that communities are concerned about ‘globalize intifada’ posters and chants, and those who use them in future protests or in a targeted manner should expect the Met and GMP to take action,” the police force said in a statement at the time.

Forman called the stabbing “not just an attack on the Jewish community – this is an attack on Britain. We need the silent majority to start standing up, because it may be too late if we remain silent.”

“It’s very sad – but unfortunately, it was to be expected,” admitted one Golders Green resident. “We’ve been warning about this for a long time. We saw small antisemitic incidents build up, and we knew bigger ones were coming. It’s like a tsunami – you see small waves before the big one hits.”

“We really need action from the government now,” they said. “There was a lot of tolerance. … What what’s happening on social mediaand certain preachers—speech that starts as anti-Israel often turns into anti-Jewish hatred, and this is the result.”

He said it “puts fear into every Jewish person in this community,” and that concern is growing.

“People used to go out to eat, sitting in restaurants, and now they are looking over their shoulders, wondering if it is possible for someone to come with a knife,” he said. “Before today, I felt relatively safe. I thought there was a lot that could be done, but I didn’t feel unsafe … After today, I’m not so sure. Unless there is a real, decisive step from the government, I don’t think the Jewish community will feel safe.”

“It’s very scary,” an Orthodox Jewish resident, who also asked not to be identified, told CBS News. “I can’t believe what’s happening. We have to live in fear – always looking behind us, wondering if someone might attack us with a knife … and even if we’re walking, where are we going? There are people trying to attack us everywhere.”

As UK leader vows fairness, political rival says no time for “kid gloves”

Starmer, in a statement released on Wednesday, said “the antisemitic attack in Golders Green is absolutely shocking. It is an attack on our Jewish community and an attack on Britain.”

He thanked the community organizations for responding and vowed that “those involved will face the law.”

The leader of the opposition Conservative Party, Starmer, Kemi Badenoch, told CBS News that the threat of anti-Semitism must be taken seriously.

“Some of this is psychological, that’s why I established a commission to look at Islamic extremism and what we can do to stop it and eliminate it completely,” he said. “We haven’t heard exactly what the attacker’s idea was, but I’m not surprised that the police are treating this as terrorism.”

“We shouldn’t be dealing with this with kid gloves. We spent a lot of time hoping this was temporary – it wasn’t. This is a national emergency,” he said.