UK Counter-Terror Police Probe Arson at Former East London Synagogue

London — British counter-terror police opened an investigation into the latest arson attack on the capital's Jewish community after someone started a fire at a former east London synagogue early Tuesday, the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

Surveillance video showed that the fire was started intentionally, and police are treating the incident as arson, according to the statement. No one was injured, and no arrests have been made.

The attack occurred as Prime Minister Keir Starmer met Tuesday with community groups, government ministers and police chiefs to discuss responses to the crisis of antisemitic violence in London.

Last week, two Jewish men were stabbed in northern London. Several synagogues and Jewish sites have faced a string of antisemitic attacks in the capital since March.

One line of inquiry is whether a foreign state has been behind some of these incidents, Starmer told the group.

A group believed linked to Iran, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, also known as the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Righteous, has claimed responsibility for recent antisemitic attacks in Britain and several more in other European countries over the past few months.

Our message to Iran or any other country that might seek to promote violence, hatred or division in society is that it will not be tolerated, the prime minister said.

Starmer warned Tuesday of consequences if Iran is proven to be behind the incidents. He said new legislation targeting malign threats would be fast-tracked.

In March, a representative of the Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia group told CBS News that it would continue to target U.S. and Israeli interests worldwide until we have avenged every child in Gaza, Iran, Lebanon, and the resistance nations.

Detective Chief Superintendent Brittany Clarke, who leads policing in the area, spoke Tuesday after the arson probe was announced. The building targeted has not been operational as a synagogue for some years, but that will be of little comfort to the Jewish community in Tower Hamlets, Hackney and beyond, who are first in my thoughts this morning, she said.