LONDON (AP) — U.K. police said Sunday they are investigating whether a string of arson attacks on Jewish sites in London are the work of Iranian proxies, as the country's chief rabbi said British Jews are facing a campaign of violence and intimidation.
The Metropolitan Police force says counterterror officers are probing fires at synagogues and other sites linked to the Jewish community, as well as an attack on a Persian-language media company.
No one has been injured in the blazes, the latest of which caused minor damage to a north London synagogue on Saturday night.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Vicki Evans said the attacks had been claimed online by a group calling itself Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia.
“We are aware of public reporting that suggests this group may have links to Iran. As you would expect, we will continue to explore that question as our investigation evolves," she said.
“I’ve spoken previously about the Iranian regime’s use of criminal proxies, and we’re considering whether this tactic is being used here in London," she added.
Israel’s government has described Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, whose name means the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right, as a recently founded group with suspected links to “an Iranian proxy” that has also claimed responsibility for synagogue attacks in Belgium and the Netherlands.
The police force has deployed extra uniformed and plainclothes officers to northwest London after attacks in the past month on synagogues, Jewish charity ambulances and a Persian-language media organization critical of Iran’s government.
In the most serious incident, four ambulances belonging to a Jewish charity were torched on March 23 in the Golders Green neighborhood,
No one has been injured in any of the incidents, which all happened within a few miles of each other. Several people, ranging in age from teens to people in their 40s, have been arrested and charged.
Source: WPLG
