British prosecutors said on Friday they had charged three men in connection with an arson attack last month on Jewish community ambulances in North London.
The ambulances were set on fire on March 23 in what British Prime Minister Keir Starmer described as a “deeply shocking antisemitic arson attack.”
The SITE Intelligence website has said an Iran-aligned multinational militant collective called Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand had claimed responsibility for the incident near a synagogue in the Golders Green area of London.
Charred remains of Jewish community ambulances after they were set on fire in North London, March 23, 2026. REUTERS
Counter-terrorism officers are heading the investigation, but as yet the incident is not being treated as terrorism.
The Crown Prosecution Service said the three men — aged 20, 19 and 17 — have been charged with arson with intent to damage property and being reckless as to whether life would be endangered.
Two are British nationals, while the third is a dual British-Pakistani citizen.
A member of the Jewish community walks past the scene of the arson attack, March 24, 2026. AFP via Getty Images
The three men were expected to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Saturday.
Canada’s Jewish communities are facing the “realistic possibility” of extremist violence in the coming months, according to federal intelligence officials.
According to an internal report prepared by the Integrated Threat Assessment Centre (ITAC) and obtained by Global News, Jewish Canadians — including public officials — are facing a “heightened violent extremism threat environment” amid the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran.
The document noted that the nationwide terrorism threat level remains unchanged at medium, and the possibility of violence targeting public officials remains low.
However, in assessing open-source information, ITAC judged that some form of an attack against Jewish communities is possible.
“The most likely scenario of an attack targeting the Jewish community is a lone actor using unsophisticated methods against easily accessible targets,” the document, first reported by the Globe and Mail on Friday, read.
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“Extremists will leverage the Middle East conflict to justify attacks on the Jewish community in Canada, and seek to incite violence. Violent rhetoric, hate crime and criminal intimidation of the Jewish community, including public officials, will very likely increase as the conflict continues.”
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The unclassified document, prepared March 18, added that Canadian Jewish communities face a number of threats that don’t rise to the level of terrorism — including criminal harassment, intimidation and vandalism.
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Those threats were already elevated compared with other religious groups before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28. While the joint surprise bombing campaign killed several key members of the Iranian leadership, including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Iranians continue to fight back.
“A body of media reporting indicates that over the past nine months, the constituency offices of public officials have been vandalized due to their identity or perceived support for Israeli actions in the Middle East,” the document reads.
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“Jewish public officials and certain non-Jewish public officials who are perceived to be representative of Judaism or Israel have also been targeted by violent rhetoric and non-credible online threats.”
ITAC added that public officials who identify as Jewish and have “additional intersectionality factors” — such as being women or members of the LGBTQ2 community — “may face an even more elevated threat.”
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Statistics Canada data indicates that Jewish Canadians are more likely to be the target of hate crimes than any other religious group in the country, and the number of police-reported hate crimes targeting those communities has risen sharply in recent years amid Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
“What’s very alarming and disturbing is … when Canadians who are angry about Israel, about Israel’s actions, blame Jews individually or collectively here for what Israel’s doing,” Carleton University political scientist Mira Sucharov told The Canadian Press last week.
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Israel’s ambassador to Canada, Iddo Moed, told a virtual forum earlier this month that the Israeli government wants to see “significant change” in how Canada deals with antisemitism, going so far as to say democratic rights should be curtailed to address the issue.
“It is hard for a liberal person to think that we have to limit other people’s freedoms so that our freedom will be protected, but that’s where we are right now,” Moed said.
Michigan synagogue attack: Car packed with explosives rams school, suspect killed
At a Hanukkah event last December, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada has a “necessity to act” on rising hate targeting Jewish communities in the country.
Earlier this month, Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree announced $10 million from the Canada Community and Security Program (CCSP) for increased security at Jewish community centres, schools, synagogues, daycares and overnight camps.
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In a statement Friday, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) noted that Iranian intelligence services and proxy actors have targeted individuals in Canada they view as threats to their regime.
“In more than one case this involved detecting, investigating, and disrupting potentially lethal threats against individuals in Canada,” the agency wrote.
“CSIS has increased its operational efforts related to potential Iranian state-directed and violent extremist activity in Canada. CSIS has also increased engagement with affected communities, providing them with as much information as possible.”
The antisemitic maniac who plowed his explosive-laden car into a Michigan synagogue’s preschool Thursday carried out the targeted attack after his family was killed in Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon, according to a report.
Ayman Ghazali — a 41-year-old naturalized US citizen from Lebanon — had at least four relatives, including a sibling, killed days earlier in military strikes in Machghara amid escalating tensions in the Middle East over the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, sources close to the investigation told The Detroit News.
The Israel Defense Forces launched a deadly wave of attacks on Hezbollah leaders in Beirut on Saturday, killing at least 217 Lebanese civilians and injuring nearly 800 more.
Ghazali, who died in the brazen attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Thursday afternoon, lived in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, and worked at Hamido Restaurant, a local Middle Eastern eatery, the outlet reported.
The wannabe car bomber, who died after smashing through the doors of Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Mich., was ID’d as Ayman Mohamad Ghazali. via REUTERS People embrace as children are picked up from the scene. Miraculously, no one was hurt in the harrowing attack. Ryan Garza / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
The wannabe car bomber, who was born in Lebanon in January 1985, became a naturalized US citizen more than a decade ago under the Obama administration after entering the country through Detroit on May 10, 2011, on an immigrant visa as the spouse of an American citizen, the Department of Homeland Security told The Post.
He was granted citizenship on Feb. 5, 2016, federal officials said.
Ghazali shares at least one child with his ex-wife, who filed for divorce in Wayne County Circuit Court in August 2024, according to court records, the outlet reported.
The divorce was finalized seven months later.
The armed suspect was found dead inside the car, which was loaded with mortar shells, after the temple’s heroic security guards opened fire and stopped him when he rammed through the preschool’s entrance and barreled through the building housing 140 students, police and sources said.
The bomb-packed car sparked a blaze, and he was found inside burned beyond recognition, sources said.
No children or staff members were injured in the attack, but the temple’s head security guard was hit by the car and knocked unconscious in the chaos.
The guard, along with 30 other emergency responders who suffered smoke inhalation inside the building, were taken to local hospitals for treatment.
The suspect’s cause of death remains unclear.
While authorities said it’s too early to determine a motive, the FBI, which is leading the investigation, confirmed the incident is being treated as a targeted attack on the Jewish community.
Oakland County— where Temple Israel is located — has one of the largest Jewish populations outside of the New York area.
Every week, The Post will bring you our picks of the best one-liners and stories from satirical site the Babylon Bee to take the edge off Hump Day. Want more of a chuckle? Be sure to click the links.
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According to sources, Carlson, ever the professional, tried to push these thoughts to the back of his mind because he was not a conspiracy theorist obsessed with the Jews. READ MORE
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“Oh, that was him?” voter Randal Caspian said. “I didn’t realize he was the governor of that state. California isn’t really the state I want to model the entire country on. That place is the worst.” READ MORE
