London Jews celebrate Lag B’Omer amid fear and uncertainty over spate of attacks

Flanked by clearly marked police officers, thousands of ultra-Orthodox Londoners mark festival with bonfires, vowing to stay ‘strong together in the most challenging times’

LONDON — Thousands of British Jews gathered in north London on Tuesday to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Lag B’Omer, after weeks of heightened tension and fear following a string of antisemitic attacks.

At one event in the area, men in ultra-Orthodox Jewish dress packed into a school playground to dance and pray together around bonfires as hundreds of women and children watched from nearby streets and some crowded onto the balconies of residential buildings.

The annual festival is traditionally celebrated as a joyful pause in a solemn period of the Jewish calendar. Bright yellow high-visibility police vests stood out in sharp contrast to the traditional black coats and hats of those taking part.

Tuesday’s festival took place days after two Jewish men were stabbed in the street in Golders Green — the most violent incident this year in a series of attacks that have put the security of Britain’s 290,000 Jews into the spotlight.

Community leader Levi Shapiro said the event was slightly different this year, referring to antisemitic incidents across the area.

“There will be that extra element of prayers, a moment of unity and reflection for the Jewish community, and of course, a community that stays strong together in the most challenging times,” he said.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Tuesday acknowledged the magnitude of the issue currently facing Jews in his capital city, saying at an emergency meeting on antisemitism in the UK that the “pattern of rising antisemitism that has left our Jewish communities feeling frightened, angry, and asking whether this country, their home, is safe for them.”

The attacks in Britain have piled pressure on the governing Labour Party, particularly ahead of local elections on May 7. The leader of the opposition Conservative Party has called antisemitism a “national emergency.”

The head of London’s Metropolitan Police went even further, saying Sunday that British Jews are facing their greatest-ever threat, which he called an “epidemic” of antisemitism.

Moments after Starmer’s speech, counter-terrorism police on Tuesday confirmed they had launched an investigation into an arson attack at a former synagogue in east London, the latest in a series of arson attacks on diaspora Jewish targets amid the war with Iran, some of which authorities are examining for possible Iranian links.

The newly founded Islamist group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI), or Movement of the Companions of the Right Hand of Islam, which has links to Iran, has claimed responsibility for many of the recent attacks in London, as well as others across Europe on American, Israeli and Jewish targets, according to SITE Intelligence Group.

The UK government has since raised the national terrorism threat level to “severe” and announced an additional 25 million pounds ($34 million) in funding to bolster protection of the country’s estimated 290,000-strong Jewish community.

Monitoring groups have reported an upsurge in antisemitic incidents in Britain, particularly since the start of the Gaza war, which was sparked by Hamas’s terror onslaught in Israel on October 7, 2023.

The Community Security Trust, a nonprofit providing security protection to British Jews, recorded 3,700 instances of anti-Jewish hate across the UK last year, a four percent rise over 2024, but down when compared to 2023.