Police stand outside the scene of an antisemitic arson attack in the Golders Green neighborhood of north London, on March 24, 2026. (Henry NICHOLLS / AFP)

UK police arrest three more suspects in arson attack on Jewish community ambulances

London-area Met police says 3 men aged 20, 19 and 17 nabbed in east London; police counter-terror chief says she hope arrests show Jewish community ‘we are doing everything we can’

by · The Times of Israel

British police arrested three men in connection with the arson attack on Jewish community ambulances in north London last month, authorities said Wednesday, in addition to two arrests made last week.

The men, aged 20, 19 and 17, were arrested at three separate addresses in east London on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life, the London-area Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

Two were British nationals, while the third was a dual British-Pakistani national. Last week, detectives detained two British nationals in their 40s and later released both on police bail.

“We know concern among the Jewish community remains high, but I hope these arrests show that we are doing everything we can to bring those responsible to justice,” said Commander Helen Flanagan, Head of Counter Terrorism Policing London.

Four ambulances of the Jewish-run volunteer organization Hatzola were destroyed after being set on fire on March 23 in what British Prime Minister Keir Starmer described as a “deeply shocking antisemitic arson attack.”

The organization was established in 1979 and provides free medical transportation and emergency response to Jewish and non-Jewish residents of north London.

The SITE Intelligence ​website has said an Iran-aligned multinational militant collective called the Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI) group, meaning The Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand, had claimed responsibility for the incident near a synagogue in the heavily Jewish Golders Green area.

The group said it was also responsible for similar attacks in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Counter-terrorism officers are heading the investigation, but as yet the incident is not being treated as terrorism.

This aerial image shows burnt-out ambulances in a parking area along a street in the Golders Green neighborhood of north London on March 23, 2026, after the ambulances run by a Jewish volunteer organization were set on fire overnight. (Henry NICHOLLS / AFP)

Attacks against Jews and Jewish targets have risen worldwide since the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led onslaught on southern Israel that triggered the Gaza war. There has been another rise in incidents following the start of the Israeli-US war with Iran.

Since the October 7 attack, Britain has recorded significantly higher levels of antisemitic hate than in previous years. The CST recorded 3,700 incidents in 2025, up from 1,662 in 2022.

The most severe antisemitic incident in Britain last year was in October, when an attacker drove his car into people gathered outside a Manchester synagogue to mark the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur and stabbed one person to death. Another person died during the attack after being inadvertently shot by police.