London: Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Keir Starmer called for stronger powers to tackle the ‘malign’ threat posed by states like Iran on Thursday, while addressing the nation about the Golders Green attack on Jews.
He said that they know for a fact that these states want to harm British Jews, which is why he will fast-track the necessary legislation. He met with the community in Golders Green and expressed his sadness and solidarity with them.
He stated in the video statement that he is determined to act because “the truth is this attack is not a one-off.”
He acknowledged the attack in Hendon, the attack on the Jewish Ambulance Service, the firebombing of Kenton United Synagogue, and the attack in Heaton Park in Manchester during his address.
He thanked the first responders for their bravery on behalf of the country.
Starmer said Jews are scared to show who they are in their community, to go to synagogue and practise their religion, scared to go to university, to send their children to school, or to tell their colleagues that they are Jewish, even to use the National Health Service.
He stated, “Nobody should live like that in Britain, but Jews do.”
He vowed to increase the visible police presence in the Jewish community and to invest more in Jewish security services.
“Much stronger powers to shut down charities that promote anti-Semitic extremism will be introduced,” he highlighted.
The Prime Minister also said that the government will prevent hate preachers from entering the country and bar them from campuses, streets, and communities.
“If you are marching with people wearing pictures of paragliders without calling it out, you are venerating the murder of Jews. If you stand alongside people who say globalise the intifada, you are calling for terrorism against Jews, and people who use that phrase should be prosecuted,” he stated.
He said the government will do everything in its power to stamp this hatred out, strengthen its security, and protect the Jewish community.
Two Jewish pedestrians were stabbed in the north-west London neighbourhood by a man, in the latest in a series of assaults targeting the community.
The British counter-terrorism police have declared the incident a “terror attack”.
(IANS)
