Jewish Ambulance Service Had Its Vehicles Set on Fire, Triggering Hate-Crime Probe by Police: Report
Hate blazed in London early Monday as four ambulances belonging to a Jewish emergency services organization were set on fire.
Police said the incident in Golders Green, a London neighborhood that has a large Jewish population, was a suspected anti-Semitic hate crime, according to CBS News.
“We know this incident will cause a great deal of community concern, and officers remain on scene to carry out urgent enquiries,” Police Superintendent Sarah Jackson said.
Witness Mark Reisner said he arrived “just as the third ambulance was blowing up.”
Arson attack targets emergency vehicles in London.
Surveillance shows suspects setting ambulances on fire, disrupting critical services. pic.twitter.com/nsf0bRJSQ9
— Brandon Straka #WalkAway (@BrandonStraka) March 23, 2026
“A very loud explosion, you sort of felt it go through your guts; it’s just left us all reeling with confusion and shock,” he said.
Yossi Pincus, a volunteer senior paramedic with Hatzola, the organization that was targeted, said anti-Semitism is growing, according to Sky News. Hatzola is a volunteer organization providing emergency services to all people.
“It has been somewhat simmering under the surface,” he said. “There has definitely been a significant rise in antisemitism, and there is an intrinsic problem nationwide that does need to be addressed urgently.”
“Despite what society has become, it is still not expected, but we soldier on.
Kemi Badenoch, leader of Britain’s Conservative Party, noted, “It’s quite clear that there is a particular problem with rising attacks on Jewish people.”
“There is an increase in the hatred of Jews,” she said, adding that, “showing action, not just words, I think, is what Jewish people want to see.”
“We need to root out this hatred from its source. It’s coming from many places, a lot of misinformation, and even in some extreme cases, extreme Islamist groups,” she said. “The rhetoric coming from the government has to be about ensuring, not just the safety of Jews, but that we will leave no stone unturned in catching the people who carry out these crimes.”
The group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Joe Truzman, who works for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a U.S. think tank, said the group is an “Iran-crafted front.”
CBS noted that the Community Security Trust recorded 3,700 anti-Semitic attacks in Britain in 2025, up from 1,662 in 2022.
“The deliberate arson attacks against Hatzola ambulances in London are a particularly sickening assault — not only on the Jewish community, but on the values we share as a society,” British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis posted on Facebook.
“The targeting of Hatzola by people so committed to terror, hatred and the desecration of life is a most painful illustration of the ongoing battle between those who sanctify life and those who seek to destroy it,” he wrote.
“At a time when Jewish communities around the world are facing a growing pattern of these violent attacks, we will meet this moment with shared resolve and stand together against hatred and intimidation,” he wrote.
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