UK police charge man over stabbing of two Jewish men in London

Saturday May 2, 2026

Britain’s Metropolitan Police have charged a man with attempted murder after two Jewish men were stabbed in Golders Green, in north London, an attack that has intensified concern over rising threats to the Jewish community.

The stabbings in a residential part of the capital on Wednesday prompted officials to raise the national terrorism threat level to its second-highest setting, a move that signals an attack within the next six months is considered “highly likely”.

This week, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said tougher measures would be taken to safeguard Jewish people.

Police said Essa Suleiman, 45, has been charged with two counts of attempted murder and one count of possession of a bladed article in a public place over the Golders Green attack. He was also charged with attempted murder in connection with a separate incident earlier the same day in south London.

Suleiman has been remanded in custody and is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court later on Friday.

Police said Suleiman fought arrest and was detained using a taser gun. Met Police Commissioner Mark Rowley said the officers who arrested a man after Wednesday’s stabbings of two Jewish men in north London were left “shaken” by the encounter.

The leader of the UK’s Green Party, Zack Polanski, shared an X post alleging that officers had “repeatedly and violently kicked a mentally ill man in the head” after he had already been incapacitated by a taser. Video of the arrest spread widely online.

Asked on LBC radio on Friday morning whether the officers’ conduct was “acceptable”, Rowley said: “I sat down with the officers on Wednesday afternoon, a couple of hours after the attack, and you could still see they were shaken.

“They’d taken on a terrorist, and as that incident developed they were afraid, because he didn’t comply at all, even after being dropped to the floor by a taser, they were afraid that he might have an explosive device on him from the way he’s behaving, he didn’t in the end, and of course they used a lot of force,” he said.

Pressed on whether kicking the man in the head during the arrest was “necessary”, Rowley said: “They’re using the force that they seem (sic) necessary.

“Unless you’ve been in that moment where you’re scared stiff and you’re confronting somebody so dangerous, it’s hard to put yourself in that situation.

“They’re desperately concerned about stunning him and sort of neutralising him.

“I’m not interested in politics but if somebody eminent, rather than some of the oddballs on social media, if someone eminent says something or does something which I see has a risk to undermining the confidence of my officers to act – because they need that sense of public support – they now need to intervene on that, and that’s what I did with that letter.”

In a letter to Polanski, Rowley said he was “disappointed” and described the post as “inaccurate and misinformed”.

Rising attacks on Jewish community

The stabbing, which happened in an area of London with a large Jewish population, was first reported on social media by the Community Security Trust, a charity that provides safety advice and security support to Jewish groups and buildings such as synagogues.

One victim, a 34-year-old man, has been discharged from hospital, while a 76-year-old man remains in a stable condition, police said.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the UK has faced a mounting terrorist threat for some time because of security worries linked to foreign states, which the government said have helped drive violence, including attacks on the Jewish community, in recent weeks.

Last week, the Finchley Reform Synagogue in north London was targeted. Other incidents have since followed, including an attack on the Kenton United Synagogue in Harrow and the premises of a Jewish charity.

Several of the incidents have been claimed by HAYI, whose name means the Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand.

British police have arrested 26 people in connection with various attacks launched since the start of the US-Israel war on Iran on February 28.

Right-wing commentators in the UK have blamed the increase in antisemitic incidents on pro-Palestine marches, which have become a regular feature since Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel triggered the Israeli war on Gaza. More than 71,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then, with many thousands more missing and presumed dead under the rubble.

UK Police said on Friday they would examine plans for pro-Palestinian protests in the capital in the coming weeks to decide whether further restrictions are needed.

“We’ll do everything we can do to maximise the sense of safety in London,” Metropolitan Police chief Mark Rowley told the BBC.

Police do not have the power to ban protests outright, but they can place limits on where they march.