New 100-strong Met unit to protect Jewish people in London

An extra 100 police officers are being deployed across London’s Jewish communities as more anti-semitic attacks are feared.

The Metropolitan Police said the new community protection team will help ‘face some of the highest levels of hate crime alongside significant terrorist and hostile state threats’.

This includes the double stabbing in Golders Green, which is being treated as an act of terrorism, and arson attacks on volunteer Jewish ambulances and an October 7 memorial wall.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley described the spate of attacks as a ‘pandemic’ of antisemitism, saying an extra 300 police officers were needed.

The Home Office is committing an extra £18 million, and a further £4 million is available through the Jewish Community Protective Security Grant.

Mark, who lives around the corner from the Golders Green attack, said he and his family are feeling more unsafe ‘with each passing day’.

He told Metro: ‘My wife is terrified. The attacks are near-daily at this point.

‘We are on alert at all times, and the conversation about moving to another country is becoming more and more frequent.’

Jewish groups are also outraged the money and extra-protection is needed in the first place.

Campaign Against Antisemitism told Metro: ‘ewish institutions are inevitably having to take yet more precautions as a result of the latest spate of antisemitic violence.

‘For years Jewish children have gone to school behind bomb-resistant glass and practiced emergency drills, Jewish congregants have gone to synagogue behind guards and barbed wire, and Jewish communal events have kept their locations secret even from attendees until the last minute.

‘This is lawlessness in modern Britain.’

The Metropolitan Police said: ‘British Jews now appear on the hate lists of every major extremist movement: extreme right‑wing groups, Islamist terrorists, elements of the extreme left and hostile state actors.

‘It is a deeply concerning convergence, and Jewish communities are living with the consequences of that risk daily.

‘This focus does not mean the Metropolitan Police is deprioritising other communities. Hate crime in all its forms – including ongoing efforts to tackle racism, anti‑Muslim hate crime, homophobia and other forms of hatred in the capital – remains a core policing priority.’