Daniel Sandford
UK correspondent

A man has appeared in court charged with attempted murder after two Jewish men were stabbed in Golders Green, north London on Wednesday.

Essa Suleiman, 45, is accused of attacking Shloime Rand, 34, and Moshe Shine, 76.

Both men suffered serious injuries and were treated in hospital, with the Metropolitan Police declaring it a terrorist incident.

Suleiman is also accused of attempting to murder Ishmail Hussein in a knife attack at Hussein's flat in Southwark, south London, earlier the same day. Hussein was somebody that Suleiman knew.

He also faces a charge of possessing a knife in a public place in Golders Green.

Suleiman appeared in the dock on Friday wearing a police-issued grey sweatshirt and trousers. He appeared to have a bruising around his eyes.

He stood to confirm his name and date of birth.

Suleiman had been a patient at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.

He was born in Somalia but came to the UK lawfully as a child in the early 1990s and is now a British citizen, officials have said.

His case has been sent to the Old Bailey where he will next appear on 15 May for a preliminary hearing. He remains in custody.

Lord John Mann, the government's independent adviser on antisemitism, has spoken to BBC News about the decision to raise the terrorism threat level in the UK.

The former MP says he feels the level rising was "inevitable", adding that the recent wave of attacks followed a "sustained hostility to people in the Jewish community".

"I don't think the country quite understands what's been going on," he says, adding that Jewish people are being abused and "ostracised" in school and their workplaces.

Mann adds there are "underlying causes" that haven't been addressed, as well as "immediate" factors like the conflict in the Middle East that have brought hostility "to a whole new level".

As a reminder, here's what happened on Wednesday in Golders Green:

• At 11:16 BST police say they are responding to reports of people stabbed on Highfield Avenue in Golders Green
• Both the police and ambulance service attend the incident and the suspect is apprehended by the police and public on Golders Green Road
• It is confirmed later that two Jewish men were stabbed and taken to hospital
• 34-year-old victim Shloime Rand has since been discharged, while Moshe Shine, 76, remains in stable condition in the hospital

Russell Langer, director of Public Affairs in the Jewish Leadership Council, says the community is "reeling once again from another attack".

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, he says it's moving into a feeling of anger as "people have been warning about this".

"We saw the warning signs," he says, pointing to the Manchester synagogue attack in October last year and the recent arson incidents across Jewish sites in London.

"At this point in time, I don't think there's any faith in the community that something like this isn't going to happen again," he adds.

Langer says the community now needs to see the "cost for antisemitism raised" and argues for long term heightened support from the police in Jewish communities.

Lucy Manning
Special correspondent

One of the men stabbed in the Golders Green attack has been released from hospital.

Shloime Rand, 34, has been allowed home according to a rabbi who has been visiting both of the injured men while they recover.

Rabbi Levi Schapiro said on X that he was pleased to report Rand had been discharged from hospital after receiving treatment "for the serious stab wounds he sustained and was fortunate to survive the attack. He is now recovering at home after receiving stitches and appropriate care."

When Rand spoke to the BBC yesterday he described how, as he left a synagogue, he was stabbed in his chest.

He said it was “a very big miracle” he survived: “I feel like God’s given me back my life.”

More now from the chief rabbi, who says he appreciates the financial support and solidarity shown by the UK government but wants to see more being done.

Yesterday, the government announced an extra £25m in funding for increased police patrols and security in Jewish communities.

Sir Ephraim Mirvis says that "we cannot only treat the symptoms - we need to treat the root causes".

Asked if the government is doing enough to keep the Jewish community in the UK safe, he says the government has "recognised they haven't and that the task is enormous".

"The silent majority are with us," he tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme, adding it is "time for them to raise their voice".

He calls on people across the UK to "come out and say 'we will not tolerate this anymore'".

Image source, PA Media

Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis says there is deep concern and anguish in the Jewish community following the Golders Green attack, but he is proud of the community's "resilience, strength and fortitude".

He tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme that he has long called for "zero tolerance on antisemitism" and "zero tolerance with regard to demonstrations every week on our streets".

On the protests, the chief rabbi says "anger is palpable" over the chanting of "globalise the intifada".

"We are witnessing the normalisation of antisemitism and it has not been taken seriously enough."

The term intifada came into popular use during the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1987.

Jewish groups have described the term "globalise the intifada" as a call for violence against Jewish people. Pro-Palestinian groups have said it is a call for peaceful resistance to Israel's occupation of the West Bank and actions in Gaza.

Asked if protests scheduled for this weekend should be allowed to happen at all, Mirvis says that "free speech is a valuable concept and an integral part of our society".

However, he adds, "freedom must always be accompanied by responsibility, when freedom lends itself to irresponsible activity you have to draw the line somewhere".

Barry and Libby Frankfurt are a Jewish father and daughter who live in London, and have told BBC Radio 4's Today programme about their experiences.

Barry says when he grew up the antisemitism he faced was "the old fashioned kind", giving examples of people shouting abuse out of a car or seeing a swastika symbol painted in public.

But he says now "it's a lot more frightening", saying the worry now is if people will be shot or stabbed.

"We aren't used to that here."

His daughter Libby says she first thought about it at a concert, when she joined into a conversation in Hebrew, which prompted a man to start "screaming" at her for doing so.

Continuing his morning media round, we've also been hearing from Metropolitan Police commissioner Mark Rowley as he speaks to BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Asked if they should have done more to keep the Jewish community safe, he says in recent weeks there has been "an extraordinary level" of extra policing in the communities.

But he understands "how afraid British Jews feel".

"The rising tide has been there for years," he adds, remembering being on the same programme five years ago speaking about antisemitism.

He says "successive governments haven't dealt with and it's good that the prime minister has talked about tackling that".

Pressed on the level of attacks on Jewish people in recent weeks, he says the police "have been acting," and says they have no power to stop people protesting.

Image source, PA Media

Victims minister Davies-Jones is then also asked about protests planned for the coming weeks.

She says this week the Crime and Policing Act has come into force and granted power to prevent marches taking place outside of places of worship and causing "repeat intimidation".

"The right to protest in this country is fundamental," she says, but if people are marching to "take part in hate or division" or any "antisemitism or racial hatred that is totally unacceptable".

On Thursday, PM Keir Starmer said that the government is "looking at what further measures we can take on protests, particularly in relation to chants, to banners and the repeated nature of protests".

Davies-Jones says the government is working with the Met to get them additional police officers "as swiftly as possible".

She says that the £25m in extra government funding for increased police patrols and security in Jewish communities will contribute towards these additional Met officers, but adds there is a need for more policing across the country as a whole.

"It's about ensuring we are doing this right," she tells BBC Breakfast.

Alex Davies-Jones MP, victims' minister, is now speaking to BBC Breakfast.

She says it's "important that we recognise the bravery" of the police and public who helped in the Golders Green incident, adding her thoughts are with the community "who are reeling again from another horrific incident that has happened to them".

The Jewish community "need action and they deserve action", she says.

"The time for warm words has come and gone," she adds and ultimately this needs a "long term solution".

Rowley tells BBC Breakfast that "it's tragic that any British citizen should feel afraid simply because of who they are and what they are".

He says there's "what you may call an epidemic of antisemitism across the world and in Britain", which the police see "symptoms" of on the street.

He says the force have put extra resources into areas to help the Jewish community and will "do everything possible" to keep this going.

Metropolitan Police commissioner Mark Rowley is now speaking to BBC Breakfast.

He says a 45-year-old man has been charged with offences relating to two incidents. This includes a charge earlier in the day before the incident in Golders Green.

Rowley says that detectives are working through the case, but that this is now a matter for the courts.

He adds that the first responders to the scene in north-west London were "extraordinary".

We can bring you more from the Metropolitan Police statement over the charges.

Essa Suleiman, 45, has been charged with two counts of attempted murder and one count of possession of a bladed article in a public place for the incident in Golders Green.

Suleiman has also been charged with attempted murder in relation to an earlier incident on the same day in Great Dover Street, south London.

The Met says as part of their investigations into what happened in Golders Green, they were made aware of an incident reported to police earlier on the same day in south east London.

Police were called at approximately 08:50 BST on Wednesday to Great Dover Street where the suspect is believed to have had an altercation with the occupant before leaving.

The occupant received minor injuries, police say.

Essa Suleiman has been charged with attempted murder after two Jewish men were stabbed in Golders Green, north London, the Metropolitan Police have said.

The 45-year-old has been charged with two counts of attempted murder and one count of possession of a bladed article in a public place over the incident on Wednesday.

He has also been charged with attempted murder in relation to a separate incident in Great Dover Street in Southwark earlier the same day.

On Thursday, the UK's terror threat level was raised to severe following the stabbing.

The government said the threat level has been rising "for some time", adding that the increased level was "not solely" as a result of the incident earlier this week.

Met Commissioner Mark Rowley will be speaking on BBC Breakfast this morning about the incident. We will be bringing you all of the latest updates here.

Essa Suleiman, 45, has been charged with attempted murder after two Jewish men were stabbed in Golders Green, north London on Wednesday, the Metropolitan Police have said.

Katie Williams
Live reporter

Image source, EPA

The UK terrorism threat level has been raised to "severe" after two men were stabbed in Golders Green on Wednesday. The government says the increase is not solely due to the stabbings, adding that the threat has been "rising for some time".

Speaking from Downing Street earlier, the Prime Minister Keir Starmer promised a swathe of measures to tackle antisemitism, including strengthening police presence in Jewish communities, and fast-tracking powers through Parliament to tackle state-sponsored threats. Starmer also urged people in the UK to "open their eyes to Jewish pain".

One of the victims - 34-year-old Shloime Rand - told the BBC from hospital that he felt "like God's given me back my life". In an update on X in the last hour, rabbi Levi Schapiro who visited the victims in hospital said Rand had been discharged. The other victim, 76-year-old Moshe Shine, remains in hospital and is in a stable condition.

The suspect is 45-year-old Essa Suleiman from south-east London, the BBC understands. He came to the UK legally from Somalia in the early-1990s and is a British citizen. He was referred to the counter-terrorism Prevent programme in 2020, the Metropolitan Police says, with the case subsequently closed later that year.

Demonstrators have gathered outside Downing Street this evening to demand "meaningful action" from the PM following the attack. He was met with protests and heckles on a visit to Golders Green earlier today. It comes as one Jewish man tells the BBC he is leaving Salford for Israel, explaining: I don't feel safe walking down the street".

We're now bringing our live coverage to a close.

Eleanor Shearwood
BBC Newsbeat reporter in Golders Green

Image source, Dov Forman

I’ve been speaking to young Jewish people in Golders Green. Dov Forman, a Jewish author, describes what happened as “terror coming to our doorstep”.

“Everyone knew this was coming. It was a when – not if," he tells me. He says he feels people are “becoming immune to the level of violence and antisemitism” in the country.

But not everyone feels comfortable speaking openly. Many who talk to us do not want to provide their names or pictures, with some saying it’s because they’re scared.

"You don't even know if you can dress appropriately, walk around, you always have to look over your shoulder... that's not how people should live," one person says.

Another says the community is doing more to “protect ourselves”, but asks what's being done to "eradicate" antisemitism.

“I have conversations with friends and family every single day about leaving the country," they say.

Image source, Getty Images

Iran's embassy in the UK says it "categorically rejects any allegations" of the country's involvement in "violent activities or incidents in the United Kingdom" after the attack in Golders Green.

"Such baseless accusations... lack credible evidence and appear to serve narrow political agendas", it writes in a post on X.

Yesterday, a group linked with Iran said it was behind the attack, but did not provide any proof. Earlier, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told the BBC it was "not unusual" for such groups to claim responsibility and that the attack was still being investigated.

Met Police commissioner Mark Rowley also on Wednesday said it was "too early to say" when asked if Iran was linked to the attack.

Speaking from Downing Street earlier today, PM Keir Starmer said the government would introduce "stronger powers to tackle the malign threat posed by states like Iran", accusing them of wanting "to harm British Jews".

This includes fast-tracking new powers to go after individuals or groups acting on behalf of state-sponsored organisations.