Statement from Janet Ellis and Andrew Copson
In the early hours of 23 March, four ambulances were set alight in Golders Green. They belonged to a Jewish-run volunteer ambulance service whose paramedics rush to emergencies to save lives — Jewish or not — across north London. In retrospect it was the first incident in a five-week spate of attacks that has since included petrol bombs thrown at synagogues, and a double stabbing on a London street that the UK government has declared a terrorist incident.
Whether these attacks are the spontaneous actions of individuals or, as UK security services are suggesting, terror sponsored by the Iranian regime, there is indisputably a rising tide of hatred directed towards Jewish people in the UK. And sadly, this is not an issue confined to Islamist fundamentalists. Antisemitism is a pernicious and perennial hatred, but the flames of this hatred are being stoked and fanned now by a public discourse that equates the fact of simply being Jewish (either ethnically, culturally, or religiously) with responsibility for the actions of the government of Israel.
We are all individuals, deserving of respect
As humanists, who believe wholeheartedly in the freedom of the individual, we need to be very clear about this. Equating Jews because they are Jewish with the government of Israel is racist. It is no more reasonable than holding Catholics personally accountable for the Vatican’s devastating stance on contraception or LGBT rights, treating Hindus in Leicester as answerable for the actions of India’s Hindu nationalist government in Kashmir, or assuming that every British Muslim endorses the brutal laws of Saudi Arabia. We should never accept reasoning of this kind in any context. It is straightforwardly racist, and we as humanists should call it out as such.
We should also reject, without apology, the equivocation creeping into public discourse around this violence in the UK – the impulse to soften, recontextualise, or change the subject when Jews are the ones being attacked. Even if they were relevant, it is a moral failure to pretend that horrors elsewhere in the world cancel out horrors here.
Home Office data for the year ending March 2025 shows British Jews experienced more than eight times the rate of recorded hate crime per head of population as British Muslims, the next most targeted group. Similarly, the Community Security Trust – the UK charity that has logged antisemitic incidents on behalf of the Jewish community since 1984 – recorded a further 3,700 such incidents across 2025, the second-highest annual total in its records. That this unacceptable baseline is now deteriorating even further is not just a crisis for our Jewish communities – it is a deep fracture in our shared social fabric.
Solidarity in a plural society: a humanist value
At the heart of humanism is the conviction that everyone has the right to live safely, with dignity, free from prejudice, and to be treated as an individual person. When any member of any minority is targeted by such an ancient and enduring hatred, it threatens the open, pluralistic society we all rely on. Antisemitism is wrong in itself and in history it has also often been one of the first signs of broader democratic decay.
Humanists in particular cannot be bystanders to this escalation. Where the easy thing is to look away, we should make a point of looking. Where the easy thing is to soften our language, we should be exact about what is happening. And where the easy thing is to let the equivocations pass – in conversation, online, in public life – we should call them out. Jews in Britain should not be left to fight this alone and nor should the UK Government.
Defeating this prejudice demands active, unwavering solidarity across all divides. It asks us to champion reason over conspiracy, to actively call out scapegoating, and to relentlessly defend the human rights of all our neighbours.
To our Jewish friends and colleagues: Humanists UK stands with you in this endeavour. A society that fails to protect you is one that has lost sight of its moral compass. We must work together to rebuild it.
Janet Ellis
President
Humanists UK
Andrew Copson
Chief Executive
Humanists UK
Notes
About Humanists UK
Humanists UK is the national charity working on behalf of non-religious people. Powered by over 150,000 members and supporters, we advance free thinking and promote humanism to create a tolerant society where rational thinking and kindness prevail. We provide ceremonies, pastoral care, education, and support services benefitting over a million people every year and our campaigns advance humanist thinking on ethical issues, human rights, and equal treatment for all.
Timeline of antisemitic attacks in the UK, March–April 2026
23 March — Golders Green, north London. Arson attack on four ambulances belonging to Hatzola, a Jewish-run volunteer ambulance service. Four people were subsequently charged.
15 April — Finchley Reform Synagogue, north London. Two individuals threw a brick and bottles suspected to contain petrol at the building in an attempted arson. The devices failed to ignite and no injuries or damage were caused. A 46-year-old man and a 47-year-old woman were arrested on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life.
17 April — Three separate incidents:
- A bag containing three bottles of fluid was left at the doorway of a building in Hendon, north London, formerly occupied by the charity Jewish Futures. The bottles failed to ignite fully, causing only minor scorch marks.
- Items including two jars of a powdered substance were discovered in Kensington Gardens near the Israeli Embassy. Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia (HAYI) had earlier claimed it was planning an attack on the embassy using ‘dangerous substances’; the items were later confirmed to contain no harmful substances.
- Rubbish bins outside a residential block in Barnet, north London were set alight.
19 April — Two further incidents:
- A bottle containing an accelerant was thrown through a window of Kenton United Synagogue in Harrow in north London, damaging the synagogue’s medical room. Two people were arrested.
- A Jewish-owned shop in Watford was set on fire, with antisemitic graffiti left on the storefront.
29 April — Golders Green, north London. Two Jewish men, aged 34 and 76, were stabbed in the street and taken to hospital with serious injuries. Both are in a stable condition. A 45-year-old man has been charged with attempted murder. The attack was declared a terrorist incident; the UK national terror threat level was raised from ‘substantial’ to ‘severe’ the following day.