Police eye Iran involvement as three London synagogues targeted in arson attacks

JTA – Two teenagers have been arrested in connection with an arson attack on a London synagogue on Sunday, the third within days on Jewish targets in the city. 

No one was injured at Kenton United Synagogue after police said a “bottle with some sort of accelerant” was thrown through a window. A fire was extinguished before it could do significant damage. 

Police offered few details about the men arrested beyond their ages, 17 and 19. But they said they saw emerging evidence that the attack and others in recent days may have been conducted in exchange for payments from Iran, which has said it would strike targets abroad in response to the United States-Israel war against it. 

“We’ve seen a pattern,” Matt Jukes, the police force’s Deputy Commissioner, said on the BBC on Monday. He said there had been 15 arrests related to incidents targeting the Jewish community in recent weeks and most appeared to be “people taking cash as it looks like quick and easy money” to stage an attack. 

A new group, The Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand, has claimed many of the attacks, including the most recent one. It appears to be Iran-linked and says it is behind arson and explosives targeting synagogues across Europe. 

Jukes and Vicki Evans, the Metropolitan Police’s senior national coordination for counterterrorism, addressed the drumbeat of London attacks during a press conference on Sunday, outside the Kenton synagogue. There, Evans spoke directly to Brits who might be considering it as a get-rich-quick scheme. 

“To anyone even considering getting involved, my message to you would be this: The stakes are high and it is absolutely not worth the risk for a small reward,” she said. “Those tasking you will not be there when you are arrested and face court. You will be used once and thrown away without a second thought.” 

The Kenton arson followed multiple other incidents in recent days. Two people were arrested after throwing bottles containing liquid at Finchley Reform Synagogue last week, and on Friday, a fire was set at a nearby building that formerly held a nonprofit called Jewish Futures and still bears its sign. Suspicious material was also found near the Israeli embassy. 

Last month, arsonists set fire to ambulances owned by Hatzola, an emergency service operated by a Jewish nonprofit. At least five people, including several young adults and one person who does not hold British citizenship, have been arrested in connection with the arson. Police also arrested multiple men who they said had been spying on British Jewish communities on behalf of Iran. 

British Jewish leaders have responded to the incidents with growing alarm, even as police have worked to apprehend the perpetrators and calm tensions. 

“A sustained campaign of violence and intimidation against the Jewish community of the UK is gathering momentum. This sustained attack on our community’s ability to worship and live in safety is an attack on the values that bind us all together,” Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said in a statement. “Thank G-d, no lives have been lost, but we cannot, and must not, wait for that to change before we understand just how dangerous this moment is for all of our society.” 

The Campaign Against Antisemitism, an advocacy group, criticised the government for failing to designate and ban Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist group. British lawmakers tabled a proposal to adopt such a designation, which other countries, including the United States and the European Union, adopted as a tool to fight Iran’s malign influence, earlier this year. 

“It is shocking that concern for the sensitivities of a violent Iranian regime is more important to the government than the welfare of Jewish people in this country,” the Campaign Against Antisemitism said. 

And the Board of Deputies, a group representing Jewish communities, urged British Jews to follow security guidelines, and vowed to defy the violence. 

“Our community will not be intimidated by these cowardly acts of hate, which are an attack on Britain and its values, and on the security and cohesion of everyone in our country,” it said.