Morning. The home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, said she understands the fears faced by the Jewish community in the UK as the government announced extra funding to boost police patrols and protections around synagogues, schools and community centres.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, she was pressed on comments made by the chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, that people in the UK who are visibly Jewish are no longer safe, after two Jewish men were stabbed in an attack in Golders Green in north-west London.
“I, of course, can understand why people who are both visibly and not visibly Jewish are feeling a huge amount of pressure and fear at the moment,” Mahmood said.
She continued: “The question for me is, what am I going to do to ensure that people are able to go about their business safely, just like their fellow citizens, and that they also feel safe as well?
A police officer and members of the Jewish community in Golders Green where two people were stabbed, and a suspect arrested. Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images“And that is the action that I am taking, practical action, in order to put in the enhanced policing, the higher spending on security so that people can go about their business.”
She said the government will invest a further £25m to increase security for Jewish communities, and that it will also fast-track new legislation in order to tackle state threats.
The victims who were stabbed in the attack yesterday, which has been declared a terrorist incident by police, have been named locally as Nachman Moshe ben Chaya Sarah and Moshe Ben Baila, who are in hospital in a stable condition.
The Metropolitan police said a 45-year-old man, a British national born in Somalia, is in custody after being Tasered by police and arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. Mahmoud told BBC Breakfast that he came to the UK lawfully as a child. The Met commissioner, Mark Rowley, said the suspect has a history of mental health issues, drug use and convictions for violence.
The stabbings follow a series of arson attacks on Jewish targets in London since March, including two previous incidents in Golders Green.
