UK’s Starmer holds summit on antisemitism, says attacks are ‘a crisis for all of us’

Board of Deputies of British Jews says it presented UK leaders with steps to bolster community’s security, ‘they must now prove their commitment with action’

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer urged leaders from across UK society on Tuesday to work together to eradicate antisemitism “from every corner,” as he convened an emergency meeting following the stabbing of two Jewish men last week and a string of other antisemitic attacks.

“It is part of a pattern of rising antisemitism that has left our Jewish communities feeling frightened, angry, and asking whether this country, their home, is safe for them,” Starmer told representatives from business, health, culture, higher education and policing who gathered for talks with Jewish community members at Downing Street.

“These disgusting attacks are being made against British Jews. But, make no mistake, this crisis — it is a crisis for all of us,” said Starmer.

Moments after Starmer began speaking, counter-terrorism police confirmed they had launched an investigation into an arson attack at a former synagogue in east London. The incident was the latest in a series of arson attacks on diaspora Jewish targets amid the war with Iran, some of which authorities are examining for possible Iranian links.

The attacks in Britain have piled pressure on the governing Labour Party, particularly ahead of local elections on May 7. The leader of the opposition Conservative Party has called antisemitism a “national emergency.”

Starmer told Tuesday’s meeting that investigators were examining whether a foreign state could be behind some of the incidents.

“Our message to Iran or to any other country that might seek to foment violence, hatred or division in society, is that it will not be tolerated,” Starmer said, adding that the government was fast-tracking legislation to tackle threats.

“We’re clear-eyed about the fact that antisemitism does not have one source alone: Islamists, far left, far-right extremism, all target Jewish communities,” he said.

The UK government said the gathering was part of its efforts to accelerate work to confront militancy, protect the Jewish community, and strengthen cohesion.

Starmer was also set to meet with ministers on a Middle East response committee to discuss the ongoing conflict’s impact on domestic security, and especially the threat to the Jewish community, the UK’s Guardian newspaper reported.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews said the summit with Starmer on Tuesday presented an “important moment” to take meaningful steps to bolster the community’s security amid the country’s antisemitism crisis.

“Today we discussed the steps needed to happen directly with those who are in positions to implement them,” the representative organization for British Jewry said in a statement. “They must now prove their commitment with action.”

The summit came after a terrorist seriously wounded Moshe Shine, 76, and Shloime Rand, 34, in a stabbing attack in north London’s predominantly Jewish neighborhood of Golders Green on Wednesday.

The UK government has since raised the national terrorism threat level to “severe” and announced an additional 25 million pounds ($34 million) in funding to bolster protection of the country’s estimated 290,000-strong Jewish community.

British Jewish community members have long demanded that the government do more to tackle antisemitism. When Starmer on Thursday visited the site of the Golders Green stabbing, a small group of protesters greeted him with shouts of “Shame on you.”

Labour MP for Finchley and Golders Green Sarah Sackman decried the “muted” response from the “moderate majority” and some anti-racism groups to spiking antisemitism in an interview with the UK’s Times newspaper published Sunday.

“For a minority community to come under this sort of sustained level of threat and attack purely for our identity, you would expect, in the normal run of things, for anti-racist organizations, for trade unions, for cultural leaders to speak out,” she said.

British and other Diaspora Jewish communities were already facing a massive spike in antisemitism amid the war sparked in Gaza by the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023.

Following the Golders Green attack, the UK’s top police officer said British Jews are facing their greatest-ever threat, and called for 300 armed officers to be deployed to protect the Jewish community of north London.