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Police arrest two over London synagogue arson attempt / Photo: Toby Shepheard - AFP
Police arrest two over London synagogue arson attempt
Police in London arrested two people on Wednesday over an attempted arson attack on a synagogue in the north of the city, amid an upsurge in antisemitic incidents in Britain.
The pair -- a 47-year-old woman and a 46-year-old man -- were detained in Watford, north of the capital, and are being held in custody, police said.
A little-known Islamist group with possible links to Iran claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist activity.
The attack shortly after midnight on Wednesday came after an arson attack on ambulances run by a Jewish charity in London last month and a deadly attack on a synagogue in Manchester in October 2025.
The latest incident, which police said was being treated as an "antisemitic hate crime", was being investigated with support from counter-terrorism detectives.
"I hope the swift action by officers today to identify and arrest two people provides some reassurance and demonstrates how seriously we take attacks of this nature," Detective Chief Superintendent Luke Williams, who leads policing in the area, said in a statement.
Describing the attack in an earlier statement, police said two people wearing dark clothing and balaclavas approached the synagogue in Finchley and "threw two bottles suspected to contain petrol" which did not ignite, the Metropolitan Police Force said.
- Surge in attacks -
Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI) group, claimed responsibility for the attack, SITE Intelligence Group reported.
The group previously claimed similar attacks in Belgium, Britain and the Netherlands.
Monitoring groups have reported an upsurge in antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents in Britain, particularly since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
The Community Security Trust recorded 3,700 instances of anti-Jewish hate across the UK last year, a four percent rise on 2024, but down on 2023.
Two men and a boy have been charged over the ambulance attack on March 23, in which four ambulances run by volunteer organisation Hatzola were destroyed.
It provides free medical transportation and emergency response to those living in north London.
On October 2, 2025, during the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, the attack on the synagogue in Manchester killed two people and seriously injured three, prompting increased anxiety among Jewish communities.
In February, a court jailed two men for life after police foiled a separate plot to carry out an Islamic State-inspired gun attack on a Jewish gathering in Manchester.
Two Iranians also appeared in court in London in March accused of spying on the Jewish community in London on behalf of Tehran.
A.Freund--BlnAP
