“No, no, don’t be fooled by the story that he had a mental health problem! He was one hundred percent sane and knew what he was doing. Because when people passed by who didn’t look Jewish, he didn’t touch them. He went after those wearing a kippah [the small cap worn on the crown of the head by many Jewish men]. It was a completely antisemitic attack,” protests Shani, the clerk at Torah Treasures, a store specializing in Hebrew literature, crafts, and ceremonial objects, in the Golders Green neighborhood in northwest London.
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He saw how Essa Suleiman, a 45-year-old British citizen born in Somalia, spread panic in that area last Wednesday at noon, “running like crazy down the middle of the road, unafraid of being run over, with fire in his eyes, wanting to kill someone,” until he stabbed Moshe Shine, 76, and Shloime Rand, 34.
The volunteer officers of the Shomrim security organization, created to protect the Jewish community and coordinated with local authorities, managed to prevent Suleiman from continuing to spread terror, until two police officers subdued him with a Taser stun gun.
Shani shares the same fear and irritation felt on the streets of Golders Green, a neighborhood where nearly 7,400 Jews work, study, and live, practically 50% of its population. It is one of the most important Jewish communities in Europe, where synagogues, Jewish schools, and kosher food establishments (prepared according to Jewish law) abound.
It has been more than a century since the first Jews from London’s East End moved to the area seeking greater prosperity, and since then successive waves have arrived from Germany, Austria, India, Egypt, Aden, Yemen, Iraq, and even Israel itself. Golders Green is a mix of rites, traditions, clothing, and varying degrees of orthodoxy where the bond that unites everyone is a sense of community. And for a few years now, following the Hamas terrorist massacre in Israel on October 7, 2023, and the total destruction of Gaza carried out by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, they are also united by fear.
Walking the neighborhood’s sidewalks this Friday and observing its residents is very revealing. Many pedestrians nervously look around and change sides to avoid crossing paths with strangers. Others outright refuse to talk. And in one case (the only exception, it must be noted), sparks fly: “Spain? I have nothing to say. I don’t like your country,” shouts a young man at the correspondent.
Most of those willing to talk agree on their diagnosis. Antisemitism is increasing by leaps and bounds, and the rest of Londoners fail to see it. Keir Starmer’s government is not doing enough to stop it.
“I’m nervous, and I’m scared. It’s obvious. I think some of the city’s inhabitants, partially, may be finding out what’s happening, but not completely. And I think those in power don’t care,” says Elya, a university student who discusses Wednesday’s attack with an Israeli friend visiting. “What we’re seeing is just the beginning. This is going to get much worse,” he explains.
He wants to open up to a nuanced conversation, he doesn’t avoid it, but like many other neighbors, he rejects that his feeling of distress derives exclusively from the Israeli government’s excesses in Gaza. “No one likes what’s happening in Gaza, but it was something that had to be done, after what happened on October 7. Just like what happens in Lebanon or Iran. We’re dealing with terrorists. That’s the difference. Yes, you can be anti-Zionist and not necessarily anti-Jewish. But I’m afraid, as we’ve seen in London over the past year, that anti-Zionist sentiment leads to terrorism,” he concludes.
Private security agents in yellow vests are continuously seen on the streets of Golders Green. Alongside Shomrim activists, men from CST, another agency dedicated to protecting the Jewish community, patrol the neighborhood, handing out cards with the slogan “report any suspicious and anti-Jewish hate activity” along with a QR code.
“Nothing about all this surprises me anymore. We had another attack just a month ago. Stories like this keep repeating. What’s next?” asks a fifty-year-old mother with her teenage daughter. She wants to vent her anger but refuses to give her name. Much less to be photographed. Both wear long skirts, according to tradition. “I don’t understand how Keir Starmer allows those massive demonstrations every Saturday where people shout without any problem ‘kill the Jews,’” she says before continuing on her hurried way.
The British government wants to toughen legislation to curb antisemitism, but courts have already had to correct some of its excesses, such as the idea of declaring the Palestinian Action group a terrorist organization, which led to the arrest of thousands of people who supported it peacefully, many over 70 years old. Now, the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, of Muslim origin, is considering preemptively banning some of the pro-Palestine demonstrations that have proliferated in recent months across the UK.
“It doesn’t matter whether Keir Starmer is a good or bad person. That’s irrelevant,” responds Maya Wilensky, a 59-year-old resident who works in finance and witnessed the panic on the streets minutes after the stabbing attack. “Right now he is the leader of a Labour Party infiltrated by antisemitic extremists,” he states.
Golders Green residents share, to some extent, the same perception as other British compatriots. “The police can’t be everywhere. They don’t have those resources. And, in any case, it would only be putting a band-aid on the wound. What needs to be treated is the wound itself,” says Wilensky.
– And what is that wound?
“Having allowed the wrong people into this country (…) People from cultures where there is no familiarity with Jews, where Jews are demonized both by their education system and their media. When they arrive here, they are already poisoned, and when they see a Jew, they react according to how they have been indoctrinated,” he answers.
Starmer’s government has raised the terror alert level to “severe,” the second highest, and has promised tougher laws against hate and more money (about 30 million euros) for more police officers to protect the UK’s Jewish communities. So far, its purpose has not convinced many Golders Green residents, who on Thursday greeted the prime minister with boos and insults.
