2026 Hatzola arson attack

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2026 Hatzola arson attack
Part of the 2026 London antisemitic attacks
Date23 March 2026 (2026-03-23)
Timec. 1:40 a.m. (GMT)
Location
TypeArson
TargetFour Hatzola ambulances
PerpetratorHarakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia (claimed)
Deaths0
Injuries0

In the early hours of 23 March 2026, four Hatzola ambulances were set on fire in Golders Green, North London. There were no injuries, though damage caused by the attack was estimated at £1 million. Five male suspects have been charged for their involvement in the crime. A group allegedly connected to Iran but of very recent existence (March 2026) Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, claimed responsibility for the attack. The incident has been considered the start of a series of attacks against London's Jewish community.

Incident

On 23 March 2026, at around 1:40am GMT, four Hatzola ambulances on Highfield Road, Golders Green, North London were set on fire. There were no injuries and the fire was put out at 3:06 am GMT.[1][2][3] An accelerant had been poured on the ambulances parked on the property of Machzike Hadath, an Orthodox Jewish synagogue, and the vehicles were set ablaze by a group of three hooded arsonists, destroying three of the vehicles and seriously damaging a fourth.[4] Windows were broken in a nearby apartment block due to explosions from oxygen cylinders within the ambulances.[5] Six fire engines and 40 firefighters tackled the blaze.[5] The ambulances were part of a fleet consisting of five ambulances and an unknown number of fast response cars belonging to Hatzola Northwest Trust, a non-profit established in 1994 and run by Jewish volunteers that provide emergency medical treatment to area residents.[6] The arson was estimated to have caused £1 million in damages.[7]

Investigation

The Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand (Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya), a group has which previously claimed involvement in attacks against Jewish sites throughout Europe, claimed responsibility for the London attack.[8] SITE Intelligence Group has called the group an "Iran-aligned multinational militant collective". The Metropolitan Police indicated that they could not confirm the authenticity of the claim or verify that the arson was indeed a terrorist attack, but said that the incident was being investigated by Counter Terrorism Policing.[9] On 25 March, The Wall Street Journal reported that investigators believe the Islamic Movement of the Righteous Companions is a fictitious organisation created by Iran to give it plausible deniability and confuse investigators.[10]

On 25 March, two men aged 45 and 47, who are UK nationals, were arrested by the Metropolitan Police. Their homes in Kilburn and King's Cross were searched, along with two additional properties in North London. They were released on bail the next day.[11] Early on 1 April, three more arrests were made at separate addresses: a 17-year-old British-Pakistani dual national, and 19- and 20-year-old British nationals.[12] On 4 April at Westminster Magistrates' Court, a 19-year-old, Rehan Khan, a 20-year-old from Leyton, Hamza Iqbal and a 17-year-old boy from Walthamstow were charged with arson and remanded. A further suspect, an 18-year-old man Judex Atshatshi, was arrested at the court.[13] A fifth individual was charged in June for his involvement in the crime.[7]

The Metropolitan Police later announced a wider crackdown on antisemitic hate crime across London, making more than 20 arrests.[14][15] Police also increased patrols to protect sites connected to the local Jewish community.[16]

Reaction

The attack was condemned by British political leaders. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer said that the attack was "a horrific antisemitic attack" and that he had been in contact with Jewish community leaders.[5] The Leader of the Opposition, Kemi Badenoch said that "all of us need to make it clear in our words and actions that Britain will not tolerate antisemitism".[5] The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan described the attack as "cowardly" and said that "Londoners will never be cowed by this kind of hatred and intimidation".[5] The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Wes Streeting said that the government will fund four replacement ambulances, and will loan National Health Service ambulances to the charity while replacements are sought.[17]

Ephraim Mirvis, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, called the attack a "particularly sickening assault" on an organisation "whose sole mission is to protect life, Jewish and non-Jewish alike".[18] The Jewish Leadership Council said that it was "particularly sickening that someone's hatred of Jews drives them to target vital ambulance services".[5]

The council chair of the British Medical Association, Tom Dolphin, said that attacks on healthcare services were "reprehensible" and antisemitism was "abhorrent".[5]

Al Jazeera journalists reporting from the scene on 23 March were angrily confronted by a group of Jewish people, including a Met Police special constable, who demanded they leave and insulted them in Arabic.[19]

In March 2026, Bharat Pankhania resigned as the 798th Mayor of Bath and from the Liberal Democrat group following backlash related to a post he reshared on social media, suggesting the Hatzola arson attack was 'Israeli false flag operation'.[20][21] He was the first Bath mayor to resign since 1937.[22][23]

References

  1. Greg McKenzie; Claire Keenan (23 March 2026). "Four ambulances set on fire in London in suspected antisemitic hate crime". BBC News.
  2. "Four London Jewish ambulances damaged in suspected antisemitic arson". Economic Times. 23 March 2026. Retrieved 23 March 2026.
  3. "London police probe attack on Jewish ambulances as hate crime". CNA. 23 March 2026. Retrieved 23 March 2026.
  4. Mackintosh, Thomas; and Rawnsley, Jessica. "Arson attack on Jewish charity ambulances investigated by counter-terror police", BBC News, 23 March 2026. Accessed 23 March 2026. "Four Hatzola ambulances were set ablaze in Golders Green in the early hours of Monday, causing several explosions - caused by gas canisters onboard the vehicles. No arrests have been made but CCTV, which appears to show three suspects dressed in black setting fire to an ambulance, is being investigated.... CCTV footage released on Monday appears to show three people in hoods pouring accelerant on the vehicles before setting them on fire and fleeing.... Allegedly an Iran-aligned group, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya - The Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand - made an unsubstantiated claim of responsibility on its Telegram channel earlier."
  5. "Jewish charity ambulances set on fire, with PM calling it 'deeply shocking antisemitic attack'". BBC News. 23 March 2026. Retrieved 23 March 2026.
  6. Rawnsley, Jessica; Manning, Lucy; and Davies, Alys. "'Shocking but not unexpected': Jewish community reacts to ambulance attack", BBC News, 23 March 2026. Accessed 23 March 2026. "'It's a shock,' said Jack Taub, who is on the leadership team of the Machzike Hadath Synagogue, where the incident took place.... Hatzola is a Jewish-led non-profit that provides free emergency medical response and hospital transportation to the north London community. Three of the service's five ambulances were completely destroyed in the attack, and another partly damaged."
  7. "Teen charged over Golders Green ambulance attack", BBC, 9 June 2026. Accessed 9 June 2026. "Ahmed, of Walthamstow, north-east London, has been bailed and is due to appear before Westminster Magistrates on 16 June. He is the fifth person to be charged over the attacks on the Hatzola ambulances on 23 March. The fire led to an explosion and caused about £1m of damage to the vehicles and medical equipment, with nearby flats and a synagogue also affected."
  8. "Suspected Iran-linked group claims north London Jewish ambulance arson", Iran International 23 March 2026. Accessed 23 March 2026. "Allegedly an Iran-aligned militant network has claimed responsibility for the arson attack on Jewish ambulances in north London early Monday, a monitoring organisation said, linking the incident to a string of similar fires across Europe. The SITE Intelligence monitoring service said a group calling itself the Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand had carried out the attack near a synagogue in Golders Green, adding it had also been behind fires in Belgium, Greece and the Netherlands."
  9. Dearden, Lizzie; Zhuang, Yan; and Nerenberg, Amelia. "Arson Hits Ambulances of Jewish Volunteer Service in London, Police Say", The New York Times, 23 March 2026. Accessed 23 March 2026. "The British police said they were assessing a claim of responsibility that was made in a video posted by a group on Telegram early on Monday. Site Intelligence Group, which tracks terrorists’ and jihadist groups’ communications, described the group as an 'Iran-aligned multinational militant collective.' 'We are aware of an online claim from a group taking responsibility for this attack,' Mr. Williams, the detective chief superintendent, said at the news conference on Monday. 'Establishing the authenticity and accuracy of this claim will be a priority for the investigation team, but it is not something we can confirm at this point.' He added that while the attack had not been declared a terrorist incident at this stage, the investigation was now being led by counterterrorism police."
  10. Pancevski, Bojan; Colchester, Max (25 March 2026). "Iran Suspected of Directing Attacks in Europe, Creating Bogus Group to Claim Responsibility". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 25 March 2026.
  11. Weaver, Matthew (26 March 2026). "Men bailed over suspected arson attack on Jewish ambulance service in London". The Guardian.
  12. Fatima, Zahra (1 April 2026). "Three more arrests after Golders Green ambulance attack". BBC News.
  13. Ahmed, Aneesa (4 April 2026). "Fourth person arrested over arson attack on Jewish ambulances in London". The Guardian.
  14. Dylan (10 April 2026). "London police makes more than 20 arrests following antisemitic hate crime crackdown". European Jewish Congress. Retrieved 10 April 2026.
  15. Place, Tom (9 April 2026). "Met steps up antisemitism crackdown with more than 20 arrests". The Standard. Retrieved 10 April 2026.
  16. Badshah, Nadeem (3 April 2026). "Three people charged over alleged arson attack on Jewish charity ambulances in London". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 April 2026.
  17. "Golders Green: Replacement ambulances arrive after London arson attack". BBC News. 24 March 2026. Retrieved 24 March 2026.
  18. Talmazan, Yuliya; and Aggarwal, Mithil. "Jewish volunteer ambulances set on fire in London in apparent antisemitic attack Prime Minister Keir Starmer denounced the “deeply shocking antisemitic arson attack” early Monday in Golders Green, a neighborhood with a large Jewish population.", NBC News, 23 March 2026. Accessed 23 March 2026. "Hatzola Northwest was established as a nonprofit organization in 1979 to provide free emergency medical services to residents of North London.... Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said the arson attack was 'a particularly sickening assault — not only on the Jewish community, but on the values we share as a society.' The Hatzola volunteer ambulance corps is 'an extraordinary service, whose sole mission is to protect life, Jewish and non-Jewish alike,' Mirvis added in a post on X."
  19. Curry, Alicia (26 March 2026). "Man who confronted Al Jazeera journalists was Met Police special constable". BBC News.
  20. Grierson, Jamie (31 March 2026). "Mayor of Bath resigns after posts suggesting London ambulance fires were Israeli 'false flag'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 18 May 2026.
  21. Davison, Tamara (26 March 2026). "Mayor apologises for post over north London ambulance attack". The Standard. Retrieved 18 May 2026.
  22. John Wimperis, Local Democracy Reporting Service. "Mayor of Bath resigns over retweet row". Hits Radio (West of England). Retrieved 5 June 2026.
  23. "Bath mayor resigns after sharing posts claiming Jewish ambulance arson was false flag". The latest National and International News - upday News. 31 March 2026. Retrieved 5 June 2026.