Britain Raises Terror Alert After Stabbing of Two Jewish Men in North London
A repeat offender with a history of violence stabbed two Jewish men in Golders Green, prompting the UK to raise its terror threat level to severe for the first time since 2021.
Essa Suleiman walked free for roughly 13 years after stabbing a police officer. British authorities knew him as a violent offender, yet they referred him to a counter-extremism program and closed his file. On Wednesday, that oversight played out in Golders Green. Suleiman attacked two Jewish men in north London, triggering the UK's Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre to raise the national terror threat level to "severe" for the first time in more than four years.
Suleiman, 45, targeted Shloime Rand, 34, and Moshe Shine, 76, on Wednesday morning. Witnesses said the Somali-born assailant ran along Golders Green Road attempting to stab people who looked Jewish. Shomrim volunteers helped detain him after police arrived and deployed a Taser. Both victims required hospital treatment. Shine remained in stable condition on Wednesday.
The suspect's record illustrates the scale of the security failure. In 2008, Suleiman stabbed PC Neil Sampson in the head, face and leg with a bread knife, also wounding Sampson's police dog. A judge sentenced him to imprisonment for public protection with a minimum term of four and a half years, recommending release only if he no longer posed a risk. Suleiman was released and later referred to the government's Prevent counter-extremism programme in 2020. The Guardian reported that authorities closed his case within six weeks.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley confirmed the suspect had "a history of serious violence and mental health issues." Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood declared the attack terrorism, stating, "Yesterday's abhorrent, antisemitic attack was a vile act of terrorism." She announced 25 million pounds in additional funding, bringing total government investment in Jewish community protection to 58 million pounds this year.
The Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre raised the threat level from "substantial" to "severe" on Thursday, meaning terrorist attacks are considered highly likely. This marks the first such escalation since November 2021. Security Minister Dan Jarvis stated the decision responded to "an increase in broader Islamist and extreme right-wing terrorist threat" and "increased state-linked physical threats encouraging acts of violence, including against the Jewish community."
The Golders Green attack fits a wider pattern of violence against British Jews. The Community Security Trust recorded 3,700 antisemitic incidents in 2025, the second-highest annual total since the organization began tracking in 1984. Stephen Silverman of Campaign Against Antisemitism said British Jews face "the greatest threat to their safety since World War Two."
Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, a shadowy group believed to be an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps front, claimed responsibility. HAYI has claimed numerous attacks on Jewish institutions across Europe since early March, including arson attacks on four Hatzola Jewish charity ambulances in Golders Green on March 23. Security experts describe the group as employing "outsourced, deniable sabotage" through locally recruited individuals.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer addressed the nation Thursday, warning that anyone promoting "globalise the Intifada" is calling for terrorism against Jews. "If you stand alongside people who say globalise the Intifada, you are calling for terrorism against Jews and people who use that phrase should be prosecuted," Starmer stated during his televised Downing Street address. Protesters heckled him with chants of "Keir Starmer, Jew harmer" during his Golders Green visit on Thursday.
Jonathan Hall KC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, called antisemitism the "biggest national emergency since Covid." Hall urged the government to "take more risks," including a moratorium on pro-Palestine marches that "incubate within them antisemitic or demonizing language." Metropolitan Police are reviewing whether upcoming protests can proceed safely.
Jewish residents describe daily life under siege conditions. Danny Silverstone, 74, a lifelong Golders Green resident, said, "Our community spaces are locked down like military sites." Rabbi Charley Baginsky of Progressive Judaism noted that parents now pick their children up from stations rather than allowing independent travel. Some avoid wearing religious symbols in public.
The attack has intensified political pressure ahead of May 7 local elections across England, Scotland and Wales. Reform UK, which advocates for zero-migration policies and deportation of violent offenders, is projected to gain approximately 1,550 council seats according to polling by Conservative peer Lord Robert Hayward. Labour faces potential losses of 1,850 seats in the same polling, a figure that would exceed the 1,500-seat threshold that a Cabinet minister told the Sunday Times could trigger internal challenges to Starmer's leadership.
Suleiman appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday charged with two counts of attempted murder for the Golders Green attacks and one count of attempted murder for a separate Southwark incident earlier that same day. He was remanded in custody pending a May 15 appearance at the Old Bailey. Counter-terrorism officials consider HAYI's claim of responsibility to be opportunistic, with no initial evidence of Iranian state direction. The investigation remains at an early stage.