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Shabana Mahmood has promised to “do everything in my power” to keep British Jews safe, as police said the suspect in the stabbing of two men in north-west London was a 45-year-old British national born in Somalia.
Ministers said a further £25m would be invested to increase security for Jewish communities after the suspected terrorist attack in Golders Green on Wednesday. The funding will be aimed at boosting police patrols and protection around synagogues, schools and community centres.
Legislation creating proscription-like powers to pursue people and organisations acting on behalf of malign state-sponsored groups would also be “fast-tracked” in the coming weeks, ministers said.
It is understood the draft laws will be included in the king’s speech setting out the government’s legislative agenda for the next parliamentary session, on 13 May.
The home secretary said the suspect was born in Somalia and came to the UK lawfully as a child in the 1990s and was a British national. She said the two victims, Shilome Rand, 34, and Moshe Shine, 76, continued to be treated in hospital and were in a stable condition.
The Metropolitan police commissioner, Mark Rowley, said on Wednesday the individual in custody has a “history of serious violence and mental health issues”.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Mahmood said she understood “the very real fear that is being felt” in the Jewish community. “The government has already been responding, and we are now doing more as well,” she said. “We will always take every step within our power in order to keep our community safe.”
Police are treating the stabbing of two men in Golders Green, which happened just after 11am on Wednesday, as terrorism, with the suspect described as having been allegedly looking for anyone “visibly Jewish” to attack. The stabbings follow a series of arson attacks on Jewish targets in London since March, including two previous incidents in Golders Green.
Rand, the younger victim of Wednesday’s attack, told ITV that Jewish people were afraid and uncomfortable to walk down the street. “People are blaming obviously the government. You know they aren’t doing anything about what’s going on for the past few months,” he said.
Mahmood signalled on Thursday that she would consider banning the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an Iranian military group.
Speaking to broadcasters on Thursday morning, she said it would be inappropriate to confirm such a move before the laws are on the statute books, but that she would be looking at “all organisations that would then fall within the purview” of the legislation.
“Just to reassure you, the only reason I’m not giving a wider commentary on who this will include is because we would never give any commentary on organisations that we are considering for either our proscription regime … or indeed, this new regime,” she told Sky News.
“I expect to be making decisions in the very near future about the groups that we will be designating as state-linked.”
Ephraim Mirvis, the chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, has called for “meaningful action” to tackle the “root causes” of antisemitism, while the Board of Deputies of British Jews said antisemitism must be “confronted, punished and deterred with the full force of the state”.
After the attacks Keir Starmer vowed that the government would address the causes of antisemitism. He is expected to meet with criminal justice agencies on Thursday to discuss the attack, and said he would visit Golders Green “as soon as possible”. But he is facing pressure to go further, including calls to ban pro-Palestinian marches.
Jonathan Hall, the government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said it was “impossible” for such marches not to “incubate” antisemitism. Describing recent attacks on Jews as a “massive national security emergency”, he called for a “moratorium” on pro-Palestinian marches.
