Two arrested over Kenton synagogue attack
Two teenagers are being held by police over an arson attack on a synagogue in north-west London.
A bottle containing a type of accelerant was thrown through the window of Kenton United Synagogue on Shaftesbury Avenue, Kenton, at about midnight on Sunday. Minor damage was caused to the building, although no injuries were reported.
The Met's deputy commissioner Matt Jukes told the BBC on Monday that a 17-year-old boy and 19-year-old man were detained overnight.
A total of 15 people have been arrested and seven people charged over a series of recent attacks on targets in London linked to Jewish communities, or those who oppose the Iranian regime.
Timeline of linked attacks
The Met's counter-terrorism unit is investigating six separate incidents in recent weeks, on:
- 23 March: Four ambulances belonging to Jewish charity Haztola were destroyed in an arson attack in Golders Green
- 15 April: A brick and two bottles thought to contain petrol were thrown at Finchley Reform Synagogue
- 15 April: An ignited container was thrown at the offices of Persian news organisation Volant Media
- 17 April: A bag containing bottles of fluid was lit in the doorway of a building in Hendon formerly occupied by the charity Jewish Futures
- 18 April: A bottle believed to be containing a type of accelerant was thrown through the window of Kenton United Synagogue on Shaftesbury Avenue, Kenton
- 18 April: Bins were set alight outside a communal block in Barnet.
Most of these assaults appear to have been claimed by the group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia - or the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right.
The group appears to have posted a series of social media videos linking it with the incidents in north London as well as many similar attacks against Jewish targets across Europe.
The Met has said it was investigating the authenticity of the claims.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Jukes described the series of attacks as "part of the modern hybrid war fought by proxies".
Asked whether he thought they may have been committed by local offenders recruited by Iran, he said: "I think that's a very serious line of inquiry in relation to these events, we've seen a pattern... people taking cash, as it looks like quick and easy money."
Juke also said he believed social media platforms should do more to prevent young people being exposed to antisemitic posts shared online.
"We will continue to work hard on the online space.
"It is a job for the wider security, intelligence services and counter-terrorism policing.
"But it's also something we think that the platforms could contribute more to, because there is online sharing and promulgation of antisemitic conspiracy theories."
'Abhorrent and unacceptable'
During a visit to the Finchley Reform Synagogue on Monday afternoon, Security Minister Dan Jarvis said: "We will have to see where the police investigation takes us, but that is clearly a point of very significant concern, and the government will make sure that we have got the right policy and legislative framework to crack down on groups such as this."
He added: "The attacks that we've seen in recent times are completely abhorrent and unacceptable, and we will move heaven and earth to make sure that people feel properly supported."
Later in the Commons, Jarvis said those who carry out hostile acts against the UK would face "severe consequences", and assured MPs that Iran would be held to account.
Shadow Home Office minister Matt Vickers said attacks on the Jewish community had become a "national emergency" and called for the government to proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation, for "large numbers" of Iranian diplomats to be expelled from the country, and for any foreign national expressing extremist views to be deported.