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"Scared to Show Who They Are": UK Raises Terror Threat to 'Severe' for First Time Since 2021 After Somali‑Born Attacker Stabs Two Jewish Men in Golders Green — Starmer Demands Crackdown on Antisemitic Chants
The man who allegedly turned a quiet Wednesday morning in Golders Green — the beating heart of British Jewry — into a scene of blood, terror and recrimination had been on the authorities' radar for six years. Essa Suleiman, 45, a Somali‑born British citizen who arrived legally as a child in the 1990s, was referred to Prevent, the Government's anti‑extremism programme, in 2020. His file was closed the same year. On Wednesday, 29 April 2026, he allegedly knocked on the door of a friend he had known for twenty years in Southwark, was buzzed inside, drew a knife and attempted to stab him in the upper body. The friend fended off the attack, but Suleiman was not finished. He travelled to Brent Cross underground station and then onward to Golders Green, where, according to Westminster Magistrates' Court, he stabbed 34‑year‑old Shloime Rand in the chest as the young man left Hagers Shul Synagogue — a blow that punctured his lung. A short time later, he allegedly set upon 76‑year‑old Norman Shine — known locally as Moshe Ben Baila — who was waiting at a bus stop on Golders Green Road adjusting his kippah, and stabbed him in the neck. Rand later told the BBC it was a "miracle" he survived. "I feel like God's given me back my life," he said.
Within twenty‑four hours of the attack, the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC) — the independent body that sets the UK's national threat level — raised the rating from SUBSTANTIAL, meaning an attack is likely, to SEVERE, meaning an attack is highly likely within the next six months. It was the first time the threat level had reached SEVERE since November 2021, following the Liverpool Women's Hospital bombing and the murder of MP Sir David Amess. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced an additional £25 million in funding for Jewish community protection — bringing the total to £58 million, the largest investment in Jewish communal security in British history — alongside an expansion of Project Servator, deploying specialist plain‑clothes officers trained to spot suspicious activity. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, speaking after a visit to Golders Green where he met first responders and community leaders, delivered a verdict on the state of British Jewry that was as devastating as it was honest: "People are scared, scared to show who they are, scared to go to synagogue, scared to send their children to school as Jews."
The Attack: How It Unfolded, Minute by Minute
The sequence of events that culminated in the stabbing of two Jewish men began not in Golders Green but more than seven miles away, in a flat in Great Dover Street, Southwark. At approximately 7:50 a.m., Suleiman arrived at the home of Ishmail Hussein — a friend he had known for roughly two decades — and was buzzed inside after making several phone calls. Prosecutor Emma Harraway told Westminster Magistrates' Court that Suleiman drew a knife and "tried to stab Mr Hussein" in the upper body, but the victim "fended off the attack." Suleiman then fled, travelling across London to Brent Cross, and then to Golders Green — a neighbourhood that is home to one of the largest concentrations of Jewish residents in Europe. Rabbi Levi Schapiro of the Jewish Community Council told journalists that Rand had been "studying in the synagogue" before the attack. "Mr Rand stumbled backwards and ran in the direction of the synagogue, chased by the defendant," Harraway told the court. "Mr Rand realised his chest was bleeding and there was blood on his shirt. He suffered a puncture lung." Less than an hour later, Suleiman allegedly approached Mr Shine — a 76‑year‑old man who was simply waiting for a bus, wearing the traditional Jewish kippah — and "ran towards him and set upon him, launching a series of aggressive blows." A member of the public attempted to intervene, but Mr Shine was stabbed in the neck and seriously injured. Both victims were rushed to hospital. Rand has since been discharged and is recovering at home; Mr Shine remains in hospital in a stable condition.
Police officers arrived at the scene and tasered Suleiman before arresting him. Footage shared on social media appeared to show officers kicking the suspect in the head after he was incapacitated — a sequence that prompted Green Party leader Zack Polanski to retweet a post accusing the officers of "repeatedly and violently kicking a mentally ill man in the head." Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley issued a sharp rebuke, describing the post as "inaccurate and misinformed" and stating he was "disappointed" by Polanski's intervention. The Prime Minister, asked about the footage, defended the officers: "There's a guy on the ground, he's got a rucksack on. And I don't know what was going through the mind of those officers, but if I put myself in their position, they've just seen this guy attack two people, they don't know what's in his rucksack." The exchange captured something deeper than a dispute over policing tactics: it exposed the raw, politicised fault lines that the Golders Green attack had torn open, and the difficulty of maintaining public trust when every frame of a police encounter is instantly litigated online.
The Suspect: Essa Suleiman — Known to Authorities, Released Back Into Society
Essa Suleiman was born in Somalia and arrived in Britain legally as a child during the 1990s, according to multiple outlets. He is a British citizen and lived in Camberwell, south London. In 2020, he was referred to the Prevent programme — the flagship counter‑radicalisation initiative designed to identify individuals at risk of being drawn into terrorism and to provide tailored support to steer them away. His case was assessed, and within the same year, his file was closed. Authorities have not disclosed the reason for the original referral, nor the grounds on which the decision to close the case was made. On Friday, 1 May, Suleiman appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court — dressed in a prison‑issue grey tracksuit, flanked by four security guards, and placing his hands on his hips as the judge spoke — to face three counts of attempted murder (two relating to Golders Green and one relating to the earlier Southwark attack) and one charge of possessing a black‑handled knife in a public place. He did not enter pleas. Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring remanded Suleiman in custody until the next hearing at the Old Bailey on 15 May.
The Prevent referral is likely to become a central focus of the public inquiry that the attack has already triggered. It is the second case in as many years in which a suspect in a high‑profile Islamist‑related attack had passed through the Prevent programme without intervention — a pattern that critics argue exposes fundamental weaknesses in the programme's design. Former Home Secretary James Cleverly said the case "raises serious questions about how someone known to the authorities was able to carry out this attack," while the Campaign Against Antisemitism demanded "an immediate and transparent review of every case file that was closed without action." The Home Office declined to comment on the specifics of Suleiman's referral, citing the ongoing investigation, but confirmed that the Independent Reviewer of Prevent would be asked to examine the case as part of a broader review of the programme's effectiveness.
The Broader Context: Arson Attacks, Pro‑Palestine Marches, and a Community on Edge
The Golders Green stabbings were not an isolated incident. They followed a string of arson attacks on synagogues and other Jewish sites in London in the preceding weeks, according to multiple outlets including the Associated Press, the Irish News, and the Stratford‑Herald. Community leaders have described a climate of escalating intimidation: Jewish schools have received bomb threats, mezuzahs have been torn from doorposts, and visibly Jewish pedestrians have reported being spat at, chased, and verbally abused. The Community Security Trust (CST), which monitors antisemitic incidents in Britain, recorded a sharp increase in reported attacks since the Iran war began on 28 February 2026 — a conflict that has polarised public opinion, revived the rhetoric of anti‑Zionism as a vehicle for antisemitism, and, according to the Home Office, generated "increased state‑linked physical threats which is encouraging acts of violence, including against the Jewish community." The Home Office statement explicitly linked the rising threat environment to foreign state actors — pointing, indirectly but unmistakably, toward Iran — and announced fast‑tracked legislation to clamp down on "individuals and groups carrying out hostile activity for foreign states, including those who act as their proxies."
Starmer, speaking to LBC, drew a direct line between the Golders Green attack and the rhetoric that has become a fixture of weekly pro‑Palestine marches across central London. He called on protesters to "call out" those chanting "globalise the intifada" — a phrase that critics argue is a call for violence against Jews worldwide. "If you are on a march or a protest where people are chanting, 'globalise the Intifada', you do have to stop and ask yourself, why am I not calling this out? Why am I on a march where this is the chant?" Starmer said. The Prime Minister stopped short of calling for a ban on the marches — "I will defend the right of peaceful protest very strongly and freedom of speech. I have defended those principles all my life and I will continue to do so" — but suggested he wanted "tougher action" against "certain phrases," and that prosecutions for incitement should be pursued where the legal threshold was met. His remarks, delivered in the immediate aftermath of the Golders Green attack, represent the strongest language he has used on the protest movement since assuming office — and the strongest any British prime minister has used since the current wave of pro‑Palestine activism began in late 2023.
The Stop the War Coalition, undeterred, is planning a major demonstration in London on 16 May to mark Nakba Day — the annual Palestinian commemoration of the displacement that accompanied the creation of Israel in 1948. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Rowley confirmed that pro‑Palestine marches across the country would be "assessed" in light of the raised threat level, but declined to say whether any would be banned, noting that the legal threshold for proscription is high and that the policing of protests is governed by the Human Rights Act. The tension between the right to protest and the duty to protect — between the liberal state's commitment to free expression and its obligation to safeguard its most vulnerable citizens — is precisely the tension that the Golders Green attack has placed at the centre of British public life. The coming weeks, as the Nakba Day march approaches and as the Old Bailey hearing of 15 May draws nearer, will test whether the government can navigate that tension without alienating either the Jewish community it has promised to protect or the Muslim community it insists it is not targeting.
The International Dimension: US Embassy Issues Alert, Israel Demands Action
The Golders Green attack resonated far beyond Britain's borders. On Friday, 1 May, the US Embassy in London issued a formal security alert to American citizens, advising them to "stay alert in public places, including schools, hospitals, churches, tourist locations, and transportation hubs," to "vary your travel routes and times," and to "keep a low profile." The alert, which was disseminated via the embassy's official website and social media channels, represented the most significant warning to Americans in Britain since the Iran war began — and, for many in the Jewish community, was read as a tacit acknowledgment that the UK government's own security measures had been insufficient. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement condemning the attack and calling on the British government to take "immediate and decisive action" to protect its Jewish citizens. Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke by telephone with King Charles III, expressing his "deep concern" about the safety of British Jews. The diplomatic pressure, combined with the domestic outcry, has placed the Starmer government in a position it has spent months trying to avoid: forced to choose between the competing expectations of its traditional allies and its domestic political base.
The Government's Response: £58 Million, New Legislation, and a Pledge to "Rid Society of the Evil of Antisemitism"
The government's response has been a combination of immediate security measures, long‑term funding commitments, and legislative action designed to signal that the era of tolerance for anti‑Jewish hatred is over. Home Secretary Mahmood announced £25 million in additional funding for the Community Security Trust, bringing the total to £58 million — the largest investment in Jewish communal security in British history. The money will fund increased police patrols in Jewish neighbourhoods, additional security at synagogues, schools, and community centres, and the expansion of Project Servator — a specialist policing programme that deploys plain‑clothes officers trained to identify suspicious behaviour. Mahmood also announced fast‑tracked legislation that would grant her new proscription‑like powers to ban the activities of state‑backed organisations posing a threat to national security, and provide police and intelligence agencies with stronger tools under the National Security Act to disrupt the activities of anyone acting on behalf of such organisations. "Yesterday's abhorrent, antisemitic attack was a vile act of terrorism," Mahmood said. "I know this will be a source of concern to many, particularly amongst our Jewish community, who have suffered so much. The Government has today announced a significant increase in investment to protect our Jewish communities, with record funding for policing and security at synagogues, schools and community centres. And we will do everything in our power to rid society of the evil of antisemitism."
Whether the measures — the millions, the patrols, the new legislation — will be sufficient to restore the sense of safety that Britain's 290,000 Jews have seen eroded over the past three years is a question that no press release or funding announcement can answer. The Campaign Against Antisemitism, which organised a rally in central London attended by thousands on 30 April, the day after the attack, described the Golders Green stabbings as "the inevitable consequence of years of institutional failure" to address rising antisemitism. The organisation has called for the Prevent review, the proscription of certain organisations, and the establishment of a dedicated antisemitism task force within the Home Office. Stephen Silverman, the group's director of investigations and enforcement, warned that "the time for statements and sympathy is over — Jewish Britons need action, and they need it now."
A Community's Fear, A State's Test
The Golders Green attack is not, in the narrow sense, a turning point. Britain's Jews have been warning for more than two years that the climate of hostility — the arson, the chants, the abuse — was building toward violence. What the stabbings of Shloime Rand and Norman Shine have done is transform a statistical trend into a visceral reality that no politician can dismiss. The threat level is SEVERE. The suspect is in custody. The government has pledged record funding, new laws, and zero tolerance. But the men who pray at Hagers Shul, the children who attend Jewish schools in Golders Green, and the elderly who wait at bus stops adjusting their kippahs do not measure their safety in threats neutralised or millions pledged. They measure it in the quiet conviction that they can walk down their own streets without fear — a conviction that, for the first time in a generation, has been broken. The question that will define the Starmer government's response to this crisis is not whether it can pass legislation. It is whether it can restore that conviction. The answer, as the Old Bailey hearing of 15 May approaches and the Nakba Day march of 16 May looms, has never been more uncertain.
Stay tuned to Unuevbo TV for continuing coverage of the Golders Green attack, the rise in antisemitic violence in Britain, and the political and security responses reshaping the United Kingdom.
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