Voicing fear, grief and anger, Jews have taken to the streets across the capital in the days following the Golders Green attack.
A 250-strong crowd chanting “enough is enough” gathered in the north London suburb on Thursday afternoon following Wednesday’s terror attack that left two members of the local Jewish community in hospital.
In a passionate speech to the crowd, which had gathered beside the Golders Green memorial wall – metres away from the scene of the attack – anti-racism activist Max Royston said: “How long will the government stand by while Jewish communities are attacked? “What was once unthinkable is now becoming a weekly occurrence. "When will the government act? How long will it take? What will it take? More Jewish bodies?” asked Royston, the co-leader of Jewish protest group Stop The Hate.
On Thursday protesters also gathered outside Downing Street in a rally organised by Campaign Against Antisemitism to demand "meaningful action" from the PM following the attack. A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “After almost two years in office during the worst levels of antisemitic violence in living memory, we would have expected the Prime Minister and his government to have come up with a plan. The previous government’s failure to deliver one is no excuse. This is a national emergency. So what is the plan?
“We thank everyone who came out this evening and made the voice of the Jewish community and its allies heard.”
Since the attacks on Hatzola ambulances in Golders Green, synagogues in Kenton and Finchley have been targeted as well as a Jewish charity in Hendon.
There was also an alleged attempted attack on the Israeli embassy in Kensington, as well as other sites. The memorial wall, which commemorates Iranian dissidents who have died in the Iran protests, was itself targeted in by suspected arsonist days earlier.
Royston continued: “We are so lucky that no one has died since Heaton Park - that the synagogues were empty, that the ambulances were empty, that the two men attacked [on Wednesday] will [hopefully] survive.
"The time for solidarity rallies is over. We are angry. We demand action from the government. We demand action from the police. It is the police who have failed the crack down on hate speech on marches, on incitement of violence against our community – and it is us that is paying the price.
“Jewish bodies, Jews in hospitals, ambulances burned. “Enough is enough.”
Around half of the crowd had marched from the Golders Green war memorial clock tower down Golders Green Road to the memorial wall.
As they walked, they chanted those three words: “Enough is enough.”
Several people at the gathering spoke to the JC. One of them was local Eve Kay, who said: “There have been so many attacks on British Jews in the last month. “And basically, apart from a few kind little words about how shocking it is, the world just carries on and seems to think it's kind of okay.
“And in fact, worse than that, a lot of people are justifying it by saying that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to blame.
“That's a conversation I had with a member of the Green Party on Sunday, basically justifying the attacks and blaming Israel. I mean, essentially blaming the victim. As if in any other conflict in the history of the world, for example, Russia, would it be okay for someone, a Ukrainian, to attack, to stab Russians going about their business in the UK, especially if they're British citizens? No!
“Jews don't count. Jews are the exception. Jews are so evil that you can do anything to them. You can say anything about them.”
Another local who spoke to the JC was Councillor Shimon Ryde, who represents Hendon. “I was here on the night of the Hatzola attack,” he began.
“Sadly this is another attack. The seriousness is increasing and the community is scared. “This has taken it to a new level this is not unexpected. We have been waiting for this... “This is just one more incident in a line of incidents which is clearly unacceptable. We are a community living in fear. “We are in actual danger.”
Kurpa Patel, a Christian who had come down to support her Jewish friends, said: “Zack Polanski said just recently that there is a ‘perception of unsafety’ in the Jewish community. Is it not perceived fear. It is actual fear."
One protester, Mark Anthony, who said he was not religious but had Ashkenazi heritage and often came to the area to meet Jewish friends, said he was “shocked, but not surprised” at the attack.
“We need dramatic actions. We need to proscribe the [Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC)], expel the Iranian diplomats and get all the Iranian agents out of the country. We need more security for Jewish institutions and synagogues and in Jewish areas,” he said.
"We just need to clamp down because there have been so many people who have gotten away with committing antisemitic crimes.”
Speaking on the BBC’s Today programme on Thursday morning, Rabbi Ben Kurzer of Golders Green United Synagogue said: “The community is appalled and very saddened really that it has come to this.
“We are not surprised. We have seen this building for quite some time now.
“There is a certain frustration that we have seen this coming as well because we don't think enough has been done to stamp out the hate that has been allowed to fester.
“As British Jews, we feel sad about the state of Britain today... I think people are still want to be able to continue to make their lives here – they are still passionate about being British Jews and there is hope that can continue, but obviously this is escalating in an alarming way and it needs to stop.”
Kurzer went on to talk about the level of security that is now needed at Jewish sites.
“Any Jewish building is now effectively a compound. Any synagogue and any school will have high fences, and a lot of money put into security guards.
“It is a very [unfortunate way of] having to deal with the problem... we want the root cause to be dealt with.”
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