The hate-filled attack on the Kenton Synagogue is the latest in a series of disgusting attacks on Jewish buildings. But these are more than attacks on buildings they are calculated attacks on the whole Jewish community, designed to destabilise and instill widespread fear. This is the very definition of terrorism.
I am grateful to the police for their swift response and for the arrests they have made in relation to some of the other attacks, but I believe it is vital that the Met police does treat these as terrorist attacks not simply as criminal damage.
I also would ask that the Home Affairs Select Committee examines the involvement of foreign actors and the ease with which they are able to launch such attacks. For too long London has been regarded by some hostile regimes as a safe base from which to operate and where money can be laundered.
That British Jewry lives under the dark shadow of antisemitic hatred is something which sadly we all have come to understand, but must NEVER come to accept. I pay tribute to the work of the CST and to the security personnel at Kenton who are always there to greet those of us who visit and to ensure the safety of the whole congregation.
In the London Borough of Brent we like to pride ourselves on the multicultural nature of our community and the harmony between all those from different faith and cultural backgrounds. But good community relations have to be worked at. They are not built on the simple toleration of the views of others. They are built on respect for our different traditions and the robust challenging of hate speech towards anyone wherever we encounter it. It is up to us all to call out the low level abuse and intolerance, because we all know that these are what facilitate and enable the escalation of a climate of hatred and violence.