Four ambulances belonging to a Jewish volunteer emergency service in London were set on fire in an arson attack early Monday, the police said, adding that it was being investigated as an antisemitic hate crime.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the episode “a deeply shocking antisemitic arson attack,” in a post on social media. “Antisemitism has no place in our society.”
The attack on the ambulances, which the police said in a statement belonged to the nonprofit service Hatzola, came after a spate of recent attacks against Jews and Jewish organizations across Europe and the United States.
The police said they were called at around 1:45 a.m. local time to Golders Green, a residential area in North London with a large Jewish community. The fire department, which sent dozens of firefighters to the scene, had alerted them.
No injuries were reported and the fires were extinguished, the police said.
Det. Chief Supt. Luke Williams of the Metropolitan Police, London’s main force, said at a news conference that no arrests had been made, but the police were looking for three suspects who were seen in CCTV footage “pouring an accelerant onto the vehicles before igniting them and fleeing.”
The British police said they were assessing a claim of responsibility that was made in a video posted by a group on Telegram early on Monday. Site Intelligence Group, which tracks terrorists’ and jihadist groups’ communications, described the group as an “Iran-aligned multinational militant collective.”
“We are aware of an online claim from a group taking responsibility for this attack,” Mr. Williams, the detective chief superintendent, said at the news conference on Monday. “Establishing the authenticity and accuracy of this claim will be a priority for the investigation team, but it is not something we can confirm at this point.”
He added that while the attack had not been declared a terrorist incident at this stage, the investigation was now being led by counterterrorism police.
In the video, the group said the primary target had been the Machzike Hadath Synagogue, outside of which the ambulances were parked.
The same group has previously posted similar videos claiming responsibility for attacks earlier this month, including an explosion at a synagogue in Liège, Belgium, and blasts at a Jewish school and synagogue in the Netherlands. The authorities in those countries have not confirmed the claims. On Monday, the Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office said that it was still investigating the authenticity of the group’s claim for the explosion in Liège.
In London, the police said that nearby houses had been evacuated as a precaution and some roads were closed.
Oxygen cylinders on the vehicles exploded during the fire, causing windows to break in an adjacent apartment building, the London Fire Brigade said in a statement, adding that around 40 firefighters were called to the scene.
The police said officers would patrol more in the area to provide reassurance and a visible presence.
Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis noted in a post on Facebook that the fires came “at a time when Jewish communities around the world are facing a growing pattern of these violent attacks.”
Attacks against ambulances were “a particularly sickening assault” on shared values, Rabbi Mirvis wrote, adding that Hatzola’s “sole mission is to protect life, Jewish and non-Jewish alike.” Rabbi Mirvis leads a body of Orthodox congregations in Britain and across the Commonwealth.
Earlier this month, two synagogues in Canada were hit by gunfire. In Michigan, a man died when he rammed his truck into a synagogue outside Detroit.
And in Britain, Jews in the Manchester area are still mourning two men who died in an attack on a synagogue during Yom Kippur in October. Last week, two men with Iranian citizenship were charged with spying for Iran on Israeli and Jewish institutions in England.
Koba Ryckewaert and Claire Moses contributed reporting
Yan Zhuang is a Times reporter in Seoul who covers breaking news.
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