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London \u2014<\/em>\u00a0British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was heckled Thursday during a visit to North London, a day after two Jewish men were wounded in a stabbing attack<\/span> \u2014 the latest in a series of incidents that one of Starmer’s cabinet members has called an antisemitism emergency.<\/p>\n As he arrived in the Golders Green neighborhood, which has long been a hub of the British Jewish community, to meet members of the emergency services, loud booing could be heard and some residents shouted insults including “traitor” and “coward.”\u00a0<\/p>\n A string of recent attacks<\/span>, including arson<\/span> targeting synagogues<\/span> and other Jewish sites, has raised alarm within the community.\u00a0<\/p>\n “It’s utter horror,” an Orthodox Jewish resident, who also asked to remain anonymous, told CBS News. “I can’t believe what’s going on. We have to live in fear \u2014 constantly looking behind our backs, wondering if someone might attack us with a knife \u2026 and even if we leave, where do we go? There are people trying to attack us everywhere.”<\/p>\n Residents told CBS News after the stabbing that they initially felt shocked and saddened, but not surprised. Those feelings gave way to anger for some, and demands for the government to take concrete action.\u00a0<\/p>\n People hug each other during a protest near the scene in Golders Green, in north-west London, after two Jewish men were stabbed in what officials called an antisemitic terrorist attack on April 29, 2026.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jordan Pettitt\/PA Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n <\/span> “There’s been a number of arson attacks on synagogues, and a huge uptick in antisemitism locally in our community,” Ben Grossnass, a volunteer with the Jewish community security organization Shomrim, who was among the first to reach the scene of Wednesday’s attack, told CBS News. “The community is in shock, understandably.”<\/p>\n Later on Thursday, the government\u00a0raised the national threat level<\/span> from “substantial” to “severe,” citing the increasing threat of Islamist and extreme right-wing terrorism in the country.<\/p>\n Dov Forman, a 22-year-old author and activist from Golders Green who said his great-grandmother Lily Ebert survived internment in the Nazi regime’s concentration camp at Auschwitz during World War II, said violence has been widely feared in the area for some time.<\/p>\n “No one here is shocked or surprised that this has happened,” Forman said. “We all knew after previous attacks that this was not a question of if there would be another attack, but simply when.”<\/p>\n The government has sought to show it is taking action, announcing plans on Thursday<\/span> for an additional $34 million to combat antisemitism with additional police patrols and enhanced security around synagogues, community centers and schools.<\/p>\n But it comes after critics say antisemitic rhetoric has been normalized for too long.<\/p>\n Forman noted chants at some pro-Palestinian protests in Britain during which people chanted “calls to ‘globalize the intifada’,” which he said had been “allowed to go unchecked in this country for years.”<\/p>\n Forman said that rhetoric was manifesting in real-world violence, with people “listening to those calls, taking them seriously, and acting on them \u2014 not just attacking Jewish people, but Jewish institutions, too. That includes synagogues, shops and areas like Golders Green.”<\/p>\n U.K. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer meets first responders from Shomrim North West London during a visit to Golders Green on April 30, 2026, after a stabbing attack wounded two Jewish men in the neighborhood.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Stefan Rousseau – WPA Pool \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n <\/span> Britain’s two biggest police forces, the London Metropolitan Police and the Greater Manchester Police, announced in December last year that officers would take an “enhanced approach” to counter antisemitism<\/span>, arresting protesters who use certain slogans and phrases, in response to a surge in hate crimes targeting Jewish people in Britain.<\/p>\n “We know communities are concerned about placards and chants such as ‘globalize the intifada,’ and those using it at future protest or in a targeted way should expect the Met and GMP to take action,” the police forces said in their statement at the time. \u00a0<\/p>\n Forman called the stabbing “not just an attack on the Jewish community \u2014 this is an attack on Britain. We need the silent majority to start standing up, because it may become too late if we remain silent.”<\/p>\n “It’s very sad \u2014 but unfortunately, it was expected,” agreed another Golders Green resident. “We’ve been warning about this for a long time. We saw the smaller antisemitic incidents building, and we knew something bigger was coming. It’s like a tsunami \u2014 you see the smaller waves before the big one hits.”\u00a0<\/p>\n “We really need action from the government now,” they said. “There’s been too much tolerance. \u2026 What’s happening on social media<\/span>, and with some preachers \u2014 rhetoric that starts as anti-Israel often turns into anti-Jewish hate, and this is the result.”<\/p>\n ![\"Golders](\"https:\/\/assets2.cbsnewsstatic.com\/hub\/i\/r\/2026\/04\/30\/c502985a-5fef-4108-8976-0c8b737f4021\/thumbnail\/620x413\/125978b254cde1824b6491e7715bc027\/gettyimages-2273134961.jpg#\")
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\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n“We need the silent majority to start standing up”<\/h2>\n
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\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n![\"Golders](\"https:\/\/assets2.cbsnewsstatic.com\/hub\/i\/r\/2026\/04\/30\/75ebd4a4-72d6-42bb-8522-4acdd86df59f\/thumbnail\/620x413\/6e571cec60c18380967a20bb070d3937\/gettyimages-2273231241.jpg#\")
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