Another suspected antisemitic incident has been reported in London after a man set fire to a baby stroller early Tuesday morning in a residential building on Bridge Lane in Golders Green, a neighborhood with a large Jewish population.
The building is home mostly to Haredi families, many of them young. The assessment is that the suspect may have intended to start a fire in a building where many Jews live. Fortunately, no one was injured.
According to residents’ reports, a suspect was seen deliberately setting a fire in the stairwell after igniting a baby stroller. They said he fled the scene after being confronted by residents of the building.
One neighbor acted quickly and extinguished the flames, preventing what residents said could have become a far more serious incident.
Volunteers from the Shomrim organization arrived at the scene, collected and documented findings suspected of being linked to the arsonist, and handed them over to police. Security cameras in the area are also being examined as part of the investigation.
The circumstances of the incident and the motive are still under investigation. Shomrim called on anyone with relevant information or footage to contact police.
The incident comes after a series of antisemitic attacks in recent weeks, the most serious of which occurred in April, when two Haredi men were stabbed and seriously wounded.
Following the rise in incidents, London Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said Britain’s Jewish community is facing “the greatest threat in its history.” He accused social media platforms of spreading an “epidemic” of antisemitism that cannot be solved by police enforcement alone.
In an interview with Times Radio, Rowley said Jews had become the focus of a “chilling hate diagram,” targeted by extremists from the left and right, terrorist organizations and hostile state actors. Police, he said, can address only the “symptoms,” while governments over the years have failed to treat the “disease” itself.