UK announces £250-mn package to protect Jewish community

LONDON: Britain’s government on Monday announced more than £250 million to boost police protection of the Jewish community, which in recent months has been targeted by a series of attacks.

The fresh package will help fund the deployment of more than 500 police officers in districts where a lot of British Jews live, including 300 officers in London.

It will also fund more police patrols outside synagogues and Jewish schools, and more plain-clothed officers.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “The rise in antisemitism we have seen in recent years is a test of our values as a country and tackling it has been central to my leadership from day one.”

This latest package is intended to be spent over a three-year period. Part of it will finance education measures in the fight against antisemitism.

“Jewish communities are facing an exceptional threat with rising hate crime alongside terrorism and interference from hostile states,” said Matt Jukes, Deputy Commissioner of London Metropolitan Police.

In late April, two Jewish men were stabbed in London’s predominantly Jewish Golders Green district, which the police said was a terrorist attack.

It was one of a series of incidents in spring that included arson and attempted arson attacks on Jewish targets, including London synagogues.

An October 2025 attack on a synagogue in Manchester, northwest England, killed two people.

The government statement said £59 million would go to Britain’s anti-terrorist police to tighten security and response to state threats.

After April’s Golders Green attack, Starmer pledged extra funding, at the same time accusing Iran of wanting “to harm British Jews”.

In May, London’s Metropolitan Police announced the creation of a special unit to protect Jews following a spate of hate attacks amid growing antisemitism.