Home Secretary publicizes £25million safety increase after Golders Green assault
Shabana Mahmood announced new funding to protect Jewish communities after the suspected terror attack in north London will be fast-tracked and claimed ‘words are not enough’
The Home Secretary announced fresh security funding after the attack(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
The Home Secretary has unveiled £25million for security after the Golders Green attack and admitted “words are not enough”.
Shabana Mahmood announced the funding to protect Jewish communities after the suspected terror attack in north London.
The funding will be aimed at boosting police patrols and protections around synagogues, schools and community centres.
READ MORE: Chloe Madeley speaks out after Golders Green horrifying stabbingsREAD MORE: Keir Starmer vows to tackle ‘root causes of extremism’ after ‘appalling’ Golders Green attack
Ms Mahmood revealed ministers had already been in talks about how to respond to a spate of attacks on the Jewish community, and that the fresh funding would now be brought forward.
Appearing on Sky News, she said: “I said yesterday that an attack on our Jewish community is an attack on us all. I do also recognise, however, that words are not enough, that the community rightly feels under huge pressure, very fearful and angry. People are grieving and people have a sense of deep insecurity.
“I had already been in discussion with partners in policing and representatives from the community about what more we need to do to respond to the attacks that we’ve already seen, and as it happens, those investigations, those discussions were taking place just as this attack happened. So I have brought forward those decisions on the enhanced funding.
“I will do everything in my power to make sure that we are doing everything we can so that our Jewish community can go about their business in the same safety and security as everybody else.”
Two Jewish men, aged 76 and 34, were stabbed in a terrorist attack in the area on Wednesday. They are in a stable condition in hospital. Jewish leaders called for tougher action on anti-semitic violence after the double stabbing at around 11.15am which has been declared a terrorist attack.
Ms Mahmood also signalled she would consider banning the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an Iranian military group, as she faced questions about the new laws.
She said: “Just to reassure you, the only reason I’m not giving a wider commentary on who this will include is because we would never give any commentary on organisations that we are considering for either our proscription regime… or indeed, this new regime. I expect to be making decisions in the very near future about the groups that we will be designating as state-linked.”
This morning Ms Mahmood also revealed the attacker is a 45 year old man who was born in Somalia and came to this country as a child in the 1990s, and is a British national.
Police across the country have stepped up patrols in response to the attack that saw two Jewish men – 34-year-old Shilome Rand and 76-year-old Moshe Ben Baila, named locally as Moshe Shine – taken to hospital after being stabbed in the Golders Green.
The stabbings are the latest in a series of attacks on Jewish sites over recent weeks and have prompted calls for urgent action and accusations the Government has not done enough to tackle antisemitism.
