by JNS Staff
The new tool will allow London to proscribe Iran’s IRGC.
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| People attend a protest in London’s Golders Green area against antisemitism, following the stabbing of two Jews, April 29, 2026. Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images. |
The British government on Thursday said it would pass legislation to tackle threats by state-sponsored terrorists, after two Jewish men were wounded in a stabbing in north London.
“What we saw last night was people being targeted because they are Jewish,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a speech during a criminal justice roundtable. “I am absolutely clear about that and of course our thoughts are with the victims, and we wish them a speedy recovery, and with their families and loved ones.”
“We are fast-tracking legislation to deal with malign state actors,” the premier continued. “Of course we must absolutely deal with the root causes of both antisemitism and extremism. But today is about part of the response, which is really important, which is the criminal justice response.”
U.K. Minister of State for Security Dan Jarvis told local media that the new legislation would allow the prosecution under Britain’s National Security Act of people acting on behalf of a state-sponsored group.
“This morning, we’re confirming that we will fast-track through parliament a new bill to provide that state-threats-legislation tool; that will be really helpful, we don’t have that at the moment,” Jarvis told the GB News broadcaster.
“The new tool that I’m talking about, that we’re able to fast-track through parliament, will give us that capability to proscribed state-backed entities such as the IRGC,” the minister said, in reference to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which over the years has sponsored terrorist attacks on Jewish and Israeli sites around the world.
A pro-Iranian terrorist group, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya, has claimed responsibility for several recent attacks on Jewish sites across Europe, including arson targeting ambulances operated by a Jewish charity, Hatzola Northwest, in Golders Green last month.
London has designated the IRGC as a terrorist organization, but it is not formally proscribed, limiting the legal powers available against it, Jarvis noted in the GB News interview.
He refused, however, to commit to a blanket ban of antisemitic pro-Palestinian marches in an interview with Times Radio.
“The right to protest is an important part of our democracy and, within the constraints of the law, of course, people do have a right to exercise their freedom of speech, but I completely understand the concerns that have been expressed by members of the Jewish community about these marches,” he explained.
“That’s why the home secretary, [Shabana Mahmood], used powers that have not been used for a very long time to ban the Al-Quds march that was due to take place in London a few weeks ago and, of course, we will want to do everything that we possibly can to provide that reassurance to the Jewish community,” Jarvis added.
London’s Metropolitan Police on Wednesday evening formally declared a stabbing attack in the heavily Jewish neighborhood of Golders Green a “terrorist incident.”
A 45-year-old suspect—a British national born in Somalia—was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, police said. The terrorist was taken into custody at a London police station after initial treatment at a hospital for taser injuries sustained during his arrest.
The two victims have been named locally as Shloime Rand, 34, and Moshe Shine, 76, according to the BBC. They received initial treatment at the scene and are now hospitalized in stable condition.
U.K. Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis on Wednesday night urged his X followers to pray “for a swift and complete recovery for the victims of today’s attack: Nachman Moshe ben Chaya Sarah and Moshe Ben Baila.”
Rand’s mother told the BBC on Thursday that her son “was walking on the street minding his own business” when the stabbing took place.
“I was able to see him yesterday. Thank God, he was conscious the whole time. We hope he will be home before Shabbat,” she said.
“As a mother, I’m pretty horrified that these things could happen on the streets of London, in an innocent community where we try our best not to hurt anyone,” she said.
JNS Staff
Source: https://www.jns.org/news/antisemitism/uk-to-fast-track-legislation-to-counter-state-sponsored-terror
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