London, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday visited the scene of the terrorist attack in which two Jewish men were stabbed on a street in north-west London and made a plea against the rise of antisemitism in the country.
Starmer was heckled by a group of protesters waving placards that read “Starmer Jew Harmer” during his tour of Golders Green, a prominent Jewish neighbourhood of the UK capital and the scene of Wednesday’s knife attack.
The 45-year-old Somalia-born British man arrested for the double stabbings of men aged 76 and 34 has since been named as Essa Suleiman.
“The truth is, this attack is not a one-off,” Starmer said during a live televised address from 10 Downing Street following the site visit.
“So people are scared, scared to show who they are in their community; scared to go to synagogue and practice their religion; scared to go to university as a Jew; to send their children to school as a Jew; to tell their colleagues that they are Jewish, even to use our NHS. Nobody should live like that in Britain,” he said.
Pointing out that liberal British values are not a gift handed down generation to generation, he stated: “They are something we earn each day through action. They come from us. Antisemitism is an old, old hatred. History shows that the roots are deep and if you turn away, it grows back.
“Yet far too many people in this country diminish it. They either don’t see it or they don’t want to see it.”
In his appeal, Starmer cautioned that calls for “globalise the intifada” during the anti-Israel marches in Britain were akin to a call for “terrorism against Jews”.
“People who use that phrase should be prosecuted. It is racism, extremely racist and it has left a minority community in this country scared, intimidated, wondering if they belong. So, I say again, this government will do everything in our power to stamp this hatred out,” he asserted.
Starmer went on to reiterate the new measures the government has already set in place, including strengthening the visible police presence through increased investment in security services for the Jewish community.
“We will introduce much stronger powers to shut down charities that promote antisemitic extremism. We will prevent hate preachers from entering our country, bar them from our campuses, our streets, our communities, [and] work with our justice system to speed up sentencing on antisemitic attacks so there is a stronger deterrence factor, as we do with riots,” said Starmer.
He repeated a previous announcement of fast-tracking new powers against malign state actors who want to “harm British Jews”, including tackling the threat “posed by states like Iran”.
“I call on everyone to fight for the decent, respectful, tolerant Britain that I and millions of people love so that our freedom and our values can still speak loud and true to a community that can no longer take it on faith,” he noted.
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