British counter-terrorism police lead inquiry into arson attack on Jewish ambulances

LONDON – London’s police chief pledged on March 23 over 250 more officers and “highly visible” armed patrols to protect the Jewish community after an arson attack on four volunteer ambulances run by a Jewish organisation next to a synagogue.

The promise of the 264 additional officers by Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley came as the force said it was investigating an online claim of responsibility.

The counter-terrorism police have been tasked with the inquiry into what British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called a “deeply shocking anti-Semitic arson attack”.

The London Fire Brigade said it was alerted to vehicles on fire at Highfield Court in Golders Green, a north London area with a substantial Jewish population, at 1.40am on March 23.

Around 40 firefighters called to the scene found that the cylinders stored on the vehicles, belonging to the Jewish Community Ambulance service, had exploded.

The little-known Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI) group, meaning The Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand, claimed responsibility for the attack in a video posted on its recently created Telegram channel.

The group, which the SITE monitoring service said was aligned with Iran, has also claimed similar attacks in March in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Later on March 23, around 250 people attended a rally against anti-Semitism in Golders Green, the PA news agency reported.

The police said in a statement “the arson attack is being treated as an anti-Semitic hate crime”.

The counter-terrorism police are now leading the inquiry, even though it was not yet determined to be a terror attack.

“Establishing the authenticity and accuracy of this claim will be a priority for the investigation team,” Detective Chief Superintendent Luke Williams said at the scene.

“CCTV footage appears to show three people in hoods pouring an accelerant onto the vehicles before igniting them and fleeing.”

Mr Rowley announced the strengthening of security around “vulnerable locations” at the annual dinner of the Community Security Trust, a charity which tracks anti-Semitism in Britain.

“Our intent is to reduce the threat, target the offenders, and stop further attacks,” he said, outlining a raft of security measures.

Mr Starmer said in a post on X: “Anti-Semitism has no place in our society”, and urged Britain’s communities to stand together after the “horrific news”.

British Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood said the arson was “so warped it defies words”, adding in a speech that it was an attack “on this country and on us all”.

Chief rabbi Ephraim Mirvis vowed: “We’re not going to be intimidated by terrorists, and this was a terrorist attack.”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog sent a message saying: “We in Israel care for every Jew everywhere in the world and embrace you at this difficult moment.”

Shomrim North West London, a charity and volunteer neighbourhood watch group, branded the arson a “targeted and deeply concerning incident affecting a vital emergency service serving the local Jewish community”.

The ambulances are run by volunteer organisation Hatzalah.

It provides free medical transportation and emergency response to those living in north London.

“Our... volunteer ambulance corps is an extraordinary service, whose sole mission is to protect life, Jewish and non-Jewish alike,” Chief rabbi Mirvis said on X.

British Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the government would provide four replacement ambulances by the morning of March 24.

Monitoring groups have reported an upsurge in both anti-Semitic and Islamophobic incidents in Britain in recent years, particularly during the recent war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

The Community Security Trust recorded 3,700 instances of anti-Jewish hate across Britain in 2025, a four per cent rise on 2024, but down on 2023.

The most serious was an attack on a Manchester synagogue in October 2025, when two people were killed and three others seriously injured.

The group likened the attack to similar incidents in Belgium, when a synagogue in Liege was attacked on March 9 and another in the Dutch port of Rotterdam on March 14.

The following day, a Jewish school in Amsterdam was attacked. There were no injuries.

The Netherlands-based International Centre for Counter-Terrorism said the claim for March 23’s attack was being circulated on accounts linked to pro-Iran Shia militias.

But it raised “the question whether HAYI is a genuine terrorist group or merely serves as a facade for Iranian hybrid operations that enables plausible deniability”, the centre wrote in its report. AFP