Two Jewish men stabbed in Golders Green
Two Jewish men, 34 and 76, were stabbed in a knife attack in Golders Green last Wednesday.
A male suspect was spotted with a knife by a Jewish passerby who shouted a warning to others. The man was then seen running along Golders Green Road towards a bus stop in the heavily-Jewish neighbourhood armed, and he stabbed Jewish members of the public.
Shomrim, the Jewish community’s volunteer-led neighbourhood watch patrol, immobilised the suspect with a vehicle and detained him until police arrived. Met Police officers deployed a taser and arrested the suspect.
The two victims were treated on the scene by Hatzola, the local Jewish community’s volunteer-led emergency medical response charity, as was the suspect.
CAA visited the scene of the crime.
Four Hatzola ambulances were destroyed in a recent arson attack in Golders Green.
CAA uncovers the suspect’s past
Investigators at CAA immediately began looking into the man in police custody and discovered worrying details about his background.
In the past, the authorities have been reluctant to release details about suspects in terrorism or severe hate crime cases, which has fuelled public anxiety.
Only after we announced that we had uncovered information – and were temporarily holding it back – did the police began drip feeding details about him.
The police said – as we at CAA had already learned – that he is a Somali-born British national, was known to the Prevent programme and that, according to the Met Commissioner, has a history of “serious violence and mental health issues”.
That was just the tip of the iceberg, and, after taking legal advice, we published what we knew:
CAA’s investigators found that he has previously served multiple, significant prison sentences for armed assaults, including stabbing two police officers and their German shepherd in 2008.
When he was sentenced for that offence, a judge told him that he would serve a minimum four-and-a-half years in prison and then only released when he was no longer considered to be a threat to the public.
“I’m very pleased with the result”, the police officer said at the time. “The main thing is he should not be in a position again to hurt a member of the public or another police officer.”
We further revealed that, before the assault, Mr Suleiman had been hired as a security guard patrolling football pitches at Abbey Meads Community School in 2006 – despite other prior violent incidents.
We also disclosed that we have received reports that he has previously gone to vigils held for the hostages formerly held by Hamas in Gaza, where he was verbally and physically abusive towards Jews, resulting in him being reported to the police.
His biography represents a catalogue of failure by law enforcement in this country over an extended period of time.
We consider that it is important to provide this information to inform the public debate and we do so in full adherence with the requirements relating to the reporting of active criminal matters.
Calling a rally and leading the news coverage
We announced a rally for the next evening, calling the situation a national emergency – language then echoed by the Government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, who said that antisemitism is the biggest national emergency since COVID – and demanding to know the Prime Minister’s plan for tackling the worst antisemitic violence in living memory.
CAA led the news coverage of this heinous attack. Here is just a sample from the BBC, Sky News, GB News and LBC.
We were also in the newspapers.
Spot the difference: Two Prime Ministerial statements
The Prime Minister first referred to the stabbing attack in the House of Commons in passing on Wednesday, having just heard about it. The next day, on Thursday afternoon, he gave a press conference aired nationally.
What had changed in between?
CAA had announced that it would be rallying outside Downing Street that evening calling on the Prime Minister to present a plan to address skyrocketing antisemitism.
We watched Sir Keir Starmer’s statement to the press in Downing Street, and were reminded of something similar.
Almost exactly two years ago, the embattled Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, gave a speech after months of rampant extremism and government inaction. He said the right things, but his government did very little and nothing changed.
Two years on, the situation is even worse.
Now, after we led the outrage following the Golders Green stabbing attack and only after we announced that we would be rallying outside Downing Street that evening to call on Sir Keir to present a plan to tackle the worst antisemitic violence in living memory, he finally spoke.
And so, two years on from Mr Sunak’s address, another embattled Prime Minister has given a powerful speech, saying many of the right things: the Palestine marches are hateful, extremist charities must be shut down, Islamist preachers must be barred from Britain, the IRGC must be proscribed.
The full power of the state must be brought to bear, he said.
We agree. That is why we have been calling for these sorts of measures for two and a half years. Had they been implemented sooner, lives could have been spared, and many Jews who have come to believe that they no longer have a place in Britain might have thought otherwise.
Words are no longer enough – even if they are the right ones. Everything that the Prime Minister said that afternoon could have been enacted over the past two years of his premiership. Why hasn’t it?
We are fed up of words: we need action.
Unfortunately, the Prime Minister still gave no sense of a timeline of when that action will be forthcoming.
Where is the urgency?
“National Emergency” rally outside Downing Street
On Thursday evening, CAA led a demonstration outside Downing Street calling on the Government to declare a national emergency on antisemitism and on the Prime Minister to present a plan to tackle the worst levels of antisemitic violence in living memory.
The demonstration came after two Jewish men were stabbed in Golders Green the day before and our investigations team uncovered and published new information about the suspect.
After the rally was called, the Prime Minister visited Golders Green, where he was met with a frosty welcome from locals, and he delivered a televised statement to the nation on antisemitism.
A Gaza rally was suddenly and not coincidentally called for the same spot one hour earlier, We informed the police and it was moved elsewhere.
The evening began with passersby yelling “Free Palestine!” at the assembling crowd. It is 2026 so Jewish people gathering in central London understand that they can expect racially-aggravated abuse as a matter of course. The police moved those passersby on instead of taking action against them, evidently still having learned nothing from the past two years.
The crowd was addressed by four speakers.
Stephen Silverman, Director of Investigations and Enforcement at Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “Successive governments have failed the Jewish community, including the current one. We have seen no meaningful action which has consequences playing out before our eyes. This Government has appeased this fanatical hatred. They gaslit us. Tough determined action needed to fix this.
“Patriotic British Jews now worry about their safety each and every day and question their future in this country. Prime Minister, how are you going to deal with this? Prime minister, what is your plan?”
Next to speak was broadcaster and former Minister, Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg: “The Jewish people are instrumental to the history of our nation. Jewish people were our older brothers in faith. It’s the depths of evil where people are being killed for their religion. We need a great cultural change because antisemitism has been on the rise and we all must play our part. Things need to happen, real things. Platitudes serve no real purposes. What we need is proper action.
“You are our people, we are your people, we are one people.”
Lord (Toby) Young, the journalist and Director of the Free Speech Union, spoke next: “Has there ever been a minority who has contributed so much to our national life? I don’t recall a British Jew being elected to Parliament and then saying he has been elected for Israel.
“We will be poorer if British Jews who are nothing but patriotic leave Britain. Jews for centuries have shown how much they love our country. If we want them to stay we have to show how much we love them.”
Finally, broadcaster and comedian Josh Howie took the stage: “I would like it if we don’t have massive gates and massive walls. That is what we should be working for. They want to give more money for security but I’d like to not have security at all and not live behind walls.
“The only problem with Keir Starmer’s speech is that it is over two years late. We have been gaslit by everyone, including this Government.”
The crowd chanted for “Actions, not words!”
There were two arrests made of hostile outsiders: both Public Order offences, one of which was racially aggravated.
Unlike in the hate marches, where arrests are made from within the crowd, at demonstrations organised by CAA arrests are never made of participants, because they act lawfully, and any arrests are only of external parties who pose a threat to the crowd.
That says it all.
We asked participants why they came to the rally – including a couple who drove down from Preston to make their voices heard.
This is what you told us.
People sometimes ask if our marches and rallies get coverage. The answer is emphatically yes.
Here is the rally being covered by the BBC, GB News, ITV and Channel 4, for example.
Here is additional powerful coverage of our rally from Newsnight and Good Morning Britain.
The rally was covered extensively on other broadcasters as well, and also in every newspaper.
Here is the rally on the front page of The Times.
Over the weekend, one of our spokespeople joined Camilla Tominey on GB News’ flagship Sunday morning politics programme.
Meanwhile, on Friday morning the Golders Green stabbing suspect, Essa Suleiman, 45, appeared in court. He is charged with attempted murder of the two men and with possessing a knife in a public place, and is also accused of attempting to murder another, non-Jewish man in a knife attack in Southwark earlier the same day. His case has been sent to the Old Bailey where he will appear on 15th May for a preliminary hearing. He remains in custody.
Met Commissioner wakes up, but still the wrong solutions
The Met Commissioner has requested urgent funding to recruit 300 officers to protect the Jewish community. He reportedly wants a dedicated group of neighbourhood officers and firearms officers to be permanently stationed in northwest London, saying it is “essential”.
While more protection will come as some assurance to the Jewish community, far more preferable would be to actually tackle the threat itself. Jewish people should not have to live behind ever higher walls and ever more heavily-armed guards.
The Met under Sir Mark Rowley has abjectly failed to confront the hate on our streets.
Another arson attack in Golders Green
The stabbing attack in Golders Green overshadowed another suspected arson attack just metres away just two days prior – this time on a memorial wall that pays tribute to those in Iran whose lives were stolen by the antisemitic Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) during the recent deadly crackdown. There is also a section dedicated to those murdered by Hamas terrorists at the Nova music festival.
We immediately rushed down to the scene, where the wall’s creators told us they refuse to back down: “We’re defiant. Nobody’s going to stop us.”
Meanwhile, Iran’s embassy in London is recruiting from those living in the UK to “sacrifice their lives” for the antisemitic, theocratic Iranian regime.
It is a chilling warning of the depths of the infiltration of Iranian networks into this country, which must be urgently tackled by the authorities – starting with the banning of the IRGC. Sign the petition now at antisemitism.org/BanTheIRGC.
Small boat migrant guilty of terrorism
Abdullah Albadri, who entered the UK by boat – twice – has been found guilty of preparing a terror-related knife attack after he attempted to gain access to the Israeli embassy in London whilst carrying two knives. You can read more about the case here.
He should not be in this country, and he should serve a significant sentence or be deported.
Green Party candidates arrested
Two Green Party candidates arrested after CAA and others raise concerns just days ago. They are Saiqa Ali, Green Party candidate for Streatham St Leonards, and Sabine Mairey, the candidate for Clapham Town, both in Lambeth in south London.
You can read about them and other candidates that we have been spotlighting for their concerning records here.
Reminder: This Sunday is a protest, not a march
Following inquiries, we wish to remind everyone that there is no march taking place this Sunday 10th May. The Board of Deputies is holding an “Extinguish Antisemitism” rally in central London that day.
Our march has been postponed and we will be announcing a new date shortly.
CAA has impact
We led the communal reaction to the attack and analysis in the national media.
Police only began revealing details about the suspect’s past after we announced that we had uncovered them.
The Prime Minister only made his Downing Street statement after we called our rally.
The Government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation echoed our assessment that this is a national emergency and our calls for an end to the hate marches.
Our rally was featured on all major news channels and broadcasters and made the front pages of national newspapers.
The Met Commissioner only announced new measures following our rally and the extensive news coverage that we delivered.
CAA has impact, and we get results. That is why you back us, and why we are proud to have your support.
Next week, we are holding our annual crowdfunding campaign, when we will be asking for your financial support to continue our work. But you don’t have to wait until then: you can already contribute now and your donation will be doubled.
Any amount, big or small, represents an endorsement of our work and enables us to keep going.
