Jewish volunteer ambulances set on fire outside London synagogue in antisemitic attack

By Laila Shahrokhshahi, Clare Sebastian, Laura Sharman, Lex Harvey, Lianne Kolirin, CNN

(CNN) — Several ambulances belonging to a Jewish volunteer rescue organization were set on fire outside a synagogue in a neighborhood home to London’s largest Jewish community early on Monday, in an antisemitic attack.

Flames lit up the night sky and residents of the northern suburb of Golders Green were woken by loud explosions, as dozens of firefighters rushed to the area.

Counter-terrorism police are leading the investigation into the attack even though it has not yet been deemed a terrorist incident, police said during a press conference on Monday morning.

Earlier, police said the attack was being treated as an “antisemitic hate crime,” adding that some residents had been evacuated as a precaution.

Security camera footage shared with CNN showed three masked people approach an ambulance belonging to the Hatzola Northwest organization and set it on fire.

The timestamp on the video reads 1:36 a.m Monday and the location marked reads Machzikei Hadath, which matches the name of the adjacent synagogue.

Police confirmed they are looking for three suspects but said there “have been no arrests yet.”

Local resident Charlie Richards told CNN she heard “multiple explosions.” Video filmed by Richards showed a large orange explosion and smoke emanating into the sky. The explosions were thought to be due to gas canisters on board the ambulances, police said.

Hatzola Northwest chairman Shloimie Richman confirmed to CNN that four of the organization’s six ambulances had been set alight, saying they were “deliberately targeted in an arson attack.”

Golders Green is home to many synagogues, schools and kosher restaurants and is known for its large Jewish and Orthodox Jewish community.

“Obviously we have concerns that this is a direct attack on the Jewish community,” Richman told CNN, adding that the organization had not received any threats before the arson attacks.

Laurence Blitz, speaking on behalf of Hatzola at the scene, said: “What happened overnight is shocking in the extreme. The emergency services were magnificent and we are deeply grateful. However our phones haven’t stopped, our volunteers are responding to callouts and our service continues unbroken.”

Gedale Weinberg and Anita Zadeh, who live just around the corner, could smell the smoke from the burning ambulances from their living room and were shocked to discover the Hatzola organization had been targeted.

“It’s a terrible, terrible act what happened… Why is it happening to us?” Weinberg told CNN. “We’re living in scary times.”

“There should be more police going around because this area here is the main area for all the Jews (in London),” said Zadeh.

Simon Lester, a first responder for Hatzola in a neighboring part of north London, said volunteers like him have been shocked by the news.

“We serve the wider community, we don’t just serve the Jewish community and you’d like to think that life-saving activities would be sacrosanct, but clearly they’re not,” he told CNN via video call.

“I’ve been looking at the WhatsApp chat this morning and people are just absolutely horrified that something like this could happen to a life-saving organization.”

He said the ambulances, which cost around £125,000 ($166,000), “obviously carry oxygen, so when you set fire to them, they’re going to explode.”

Rise of antisemitism in Britain

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has previously faced criticism for not doing enough to stamp out antisemitism in Britain, called the ambulance fires a “deeply shocking antisemitic arson attack.”

Starmer said antisemitism has “no place” in British society, while his Justice Minister Sarah Sackman –– who also represents the people of Golders Greens in Parliament –– said the “perpetrators must feel the full force of the law.”

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said that the British government will replace the four ambulances, adding that the London Ambulance Service will provide extra cover in the area.

Just under 300,000 people identified as Jewish in England and Wales in 2021, during the most recent census.

Last year, Starmer warned that hatred against Jews was “rising once again” and that Britain must defeat it, after two Jewish worshipers were killed in a car ramming and stabbing attack outside a Manchester synagogue.

The number of antisemitic incidents reached record levels in 2023, according to Community Security Trust (CST), a charity that monitors incidents.

Britain’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis called the ambulance attacks “a particularly sickening assault –– not only on the Jewish community, but on the values we share as a society.”

“Our Hatzola volunteer ambulance corps is an extraordinary service, whose sole mission is to protect life, Jewish and non-Jewish alike,” he said on X.

Phil Rosenberg, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said that, while the motive for the attack is unclear it, “ comes in the context of rising antisemitism around the world.”

“The UK Jewish community will meet the moment with strength, pride and resolve. We will replace the ambulances and continue our service to this nation that we love. We shall not be moved,” Rosenberg said in an email sent to CNN.

Hatzola, which derives its name from the Hebrew word for save, is a non-profit volunteer organization that responds to thousands of emergencies each year in North London, from minor injuries to life-threatening conditions.

The organization has chapters in Jewish communities around the world, manned by volunteer responders who provide high quality pre-hospital emergency care.

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that the number of antisemitic incidents reached record levels in 2023, not 2024.

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Ross Adkin, Lucas Lilieholm, Todd Symons, Teele Rebane and Ivana Kottasová contributed reporting