U.K. counter-terror police investigate arson at ex-London synagogue

London – British counter-terror police have launched a probe into the latest arson attack targeting the capital’s Jewish community after a fire was started at a former east London synagogue early Tuesday, the Metropolitan police said in a statement.

Surveillance video shows that “the fire was started intentionally … and the incident is being treated as arson,” the statement read. There were no injuries and no one has been arrested.

The incident came as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with community groups, government ministers and police chiefs Tuesday to discuss ways to respond to the “crisis” of antisemitic violence in London. 

Last week, two Jewish men were stabbed in the north of the capital, while several synagogues and Jewish sites have been the target of a string of antisemitic attacks in London since March.

“One of the lines of inquiry is whether a foreign state has been behind some of these incidents,” Starmer told the gathering Tuesday.

A group believed to be linked to Iran called Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, or The Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Righteous, has claimed responsibility for the recent antisemitic attacks in Britain – and several more in other European countries – over the past few months.

“Our message to Iran or to any other country that might seek to promote violence, hatred or division in society is that it will not be tolerated,” the prime minister said.

He also warned Tuesday that there would be “consequences” if Iran is proven to be behind the incidents, and said new legislation targeting “malign threats” would be fast-tracked.

In March, a representative of the Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia group told CBS News that it would continue to target “U.S. and Israeli interests worldwide until we’ve avenged every child in Gaza, Iran, Lebanon, and the resistance nations.”

Speaking Tuesday after the announcement of the investigation into the arson attack, Detective Chief Superintendent Brittany Clarke, who leads policing in the area, said: “The building targeted has not been operational as a synagogue for some years but that will be of little comfort to the Jewish community in Tower Hamlets, Hackney and beyond, who are first in my thoughts this morning.”