Going to London next, where a 45-year-old man has appeared in court charged with stabbing
The Daily Telegraph is reporting this afternoon that the head of the Metropolitan Police
Mark Raleigh wants a new specialist force to protect Jewish people from what he described
as a pandemic of anti-Semitism.
Our London correspondent, Sean Whelan, has been following the story.
Sean, can we talk first of all about what happened earlier in the week in Golders
Green? A man has now appeared in court.
Yeah, that man is named SS Sulaman. He's a 45-year-old British national. But he was born
in Somalia and came here to the UK as a teenager back in the 1990s, legally, and got British
nationality. However, he seems to have had a history of mental illness. His exact address
was not given in court today because it's understood to be protected accommodation
for people suffering with mental health issues. It had been a long-standing patient of
the National Health Service, but he was from the Campbellwell area of South London. He was
charged formally, or charged in the Westminster Magistrate's Court, with an attack on two Jewish
men. Shlomey ran 34. He's been discharged from hospital subsequently, and Norman Shine,
76. He remains in hospital. But he was also charged with a third attack on the other
side of the city in South London, with a man called Moriet as alleged to have attacked
a man called Ishmael Hussain. And Mr Hussain is described as a long-standing friend of SS
Suleiman. So those three attempted murder charges, all relating to the same day last Wednesday,
a fourth charge of possession of a knife was also laid against him. Suleiman himself
did not enter any pleas in the court, and he's been further remanded until the 15th May,
when the case will go to the Old Bailey because of the seriousness of the crimes.
Sean, this was the latest in a series of attacks, something that has now become a political
issue. A very much so, and it's been building for a long time, this question of anti-Semitism,
in particular, in the Labour Party, an issue when Jeremy Corbyn was the leader of the party.
He was criticised on that issue, including by the current Prime Minister, Kier Starmor.
Mr Starmor, of course, is in the hot seat now. There is because of the war in Gaza and also
the more recent war in Iran. There's been an upswing in anti-Semitic incidents that are being
recorded by Jewish community organisations last year. They recorded 3,700, what they describe
as anti-Semitic incidents now out of a population of around 300,000 people. That is a lot of incidents
on a pretty small community. That's why people like the Metropolitan Police Commander are worried
about it, but also the British Prime Minister is worried about it because obviously you're
seeing a rise in extremist incidents. There was an arson attack on some ambulances in
Golders Green back in March. There was another attempted arson attack on a memorial wall there
on Monday, so that community in particular feels very much under siege, but the British
government also feeling the heat because it is a problem if you're starting to see more and
more extremism in this country, breaking out on the streets and fingers are starting to
point towards the Iranian Embassy here in London and some messages that they've been putting
out this week. So it is a very much a hot-button issue for the Labour Party as it heads into
elections next week here in London. Sean, thanks indeed. That was our London correspondent,
