Officials in London are investigating a likely antisemitic attack after four ambulances were set on fire, resulting in a powerful blast outside a London synagogue.
Counter-terrorism officers are leading the investigation after reports linked the explosion to gas canisters, which caused windows to break in nearby buildings.
One local resident described the power of the blast that rocked the heavily Jewish neighborhood, saying it left people “reeling with confusion and shock.” Thankfully, no serious injuries were reported.
The ambulances belong to a Jewish charity organization called Hatzola Northwest.
Footage from a security camera showed three figures in black wearing hoods carrying a canister toward one of the ambulance before flames erupted. Police are now looking for the three suspects.
The number of antisemitic incidents reported across the U.K. has skyrocketed since Hamas’ gruesome terrorist invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The Community Security Trust, which works to protect the Jewish community, recorded 3,700 such incidents in 2025, up from 1,662 in 2022.
In October 2025, an attacker rammed his car into people gathered outside a Manchester synagogue on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur before stabbing one person to death.
Some members of the community criticize Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour Party government for failing to prevent pro-Palestinian demonstrations from tipping into anti-Jewish speech and acts. On Monday, Starmer said, “Antisemitism has no place in our society.”
Peter Zinkin, a Conservative politician who represents Golders Green where the attack happened, said, “Burning ambulances in the middle of the night is a disgrace. And you have to ask yourself, why did it happen? And the reason I’m afraid that it happened is that the government and the media, particularly certain parts of the media, have validated antisemitism on a countrywide scale.”
Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis called the ambulance attack a “sickening assault.”
“At a time when Jewish communities around the world are facing a growing pattern of these violent attacks, we will meet this moment with shared resolve and stand together against hatred and intimidation,” he wrote on X.
