Jewish community feels 'abandoned' by government

A West Midlands community leader believes the government has "abandoned" the Jewish community following the attacks in Golders Green in London on Wednesday.

When the news broke about the stabbings, Simone Schehtman, representative for the council of the West Midlands Jewish Community, said she was shocked but not surprised by the violence.

Police are treating the attack on 34-year-old Shloime Rand and 76-year-old Moshe Shine as a terrorist incident. The suspect is a 45-year-old British national who came to the UK as a child from Somalia.

Home Secretary and Birmingham Ladywood MP Shabana Mahmood has announced £25m funding to increase security for Jewish communities.

"We have seen a spate of attacks, and I know we need to do more in order to secure the safety of our Jewish community," she said.

West Midlands Police stated: "We've increased our patrols at key Jewish locations and this will continue."

But amid the pledges, Schehtman told the BBC the current feeling within the Jewish community was one of fear.

She said: "Almost all of us are about to leave, intending to leave or planning to leave [the UK]. Obviously if you're elderly or incapacitated that becomes more of a challenge.

"But our community, not just in the West Midlands, are seeking overseas locations. Which has its own irony because if you look overseas there is also no safer place.

"It makes us ask why is it we've been abandoned in such practical measures by the government?"

Ron Winch, associate professor in policing at Birmingham City University, said: "You can understand how frightened the Jewish community are feeling at the moment. It seems to be a campaign of terror attacks, and understandably people are scared."

He added: "We have a very sophisticated counter terrorism operation in the UK, of all sections of terrorism, and clearly there are policing measures taking place in relation to monitoring risk."

While delivering an address from Downing Street on Thursday, Sir Keir Starmer said that Britain's Jewish community suffered "yet another vile, terrorist attack" as two men were stabbed "because they were Jews".

The prime minister, who visited Golders Green earlier in the day, said there was "determination to act because the truth is this attack is not a one-off, there have been a series of attacks".

It was announced on Thursday evening that the UK terrorism threat level had been raised to "severe" in the aftermath of the Golders Green stabbings.

In a statement, West Midlands Police said: "While it's important to stress that there is no specific intelligence or information about a threat within the West Midlands, we know communities here are understandably anxious and concerned by events in London.

"We are listening to those concerns and have put in additional reassurance patrols."

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