A British teenager has been charged with arson after an attack on a synagogue in north-west London.
The 17-year-old boy from Brent, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has been charged with arson not endangering life for the ‘firebomb’ thrown through the window of Kenton United Synagogue, near Harrow, on Sunday.
He has been remanded in custody to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, 21 April.
A 19-year-old man who was also arrested after the attack has been released on bail pending further inquiries, the Metropolitan Police said.
The Met confirmed a ‘bottle with some sort of accelerant had been thrown through the window’ at midnight on Sunday and smoke was seen inside a room.
At around midnight, Met officers conducting security checks at local synagogues came across the crime scene. They alerted the London Fire Brigade.
Minor damage was caused to the premises but nobody was injured.
A video posted on Telegram by pro-Iran group Ashab Al-Yamin appeared to show the attack on the Kenton United Synagogue
Police officers patrol a cordon set up outside the synagogue in the early hours of Sunday morning after the ‘firebomb’ attack
Sir Ephraim Mirvis, the UK’s Chief Rabbi, described the attack as ‘cowardly’ and said ‘a sustained campaign of violence and intimidation against the Jewish community of the UK is gathering momentum’.
Counter-terror police are probing whether Iranian proxies are behind a spate of arson attacks against London synagogues.
Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia – the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right – claimed responsibility for the Kenton ‘firebomb’ attack.
The pro-Iran group, also known as Hayi, released video footage of a man walking up to the building with what appears to be petrol bomb and hurling it at the site.
On Sunday, Yehuda Black, the synagogue’s rabbi, said the item was thrown into the medical room. The Community Security Trust (CST) said that minor smoke damage to an internal room was caused but said no there were injuries or significant structural damage.
It came a day after an arson attack at a building that used to house a Jewish charity in Hendon, north-west London, which is also being investigated as an antisemitic hate crime. A man lit a plastic bag at the entrance before fleeing.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said the Met Police have ‘stepped up resources in the area’.
‘There is no place for antisemitism in our city, and the perpetrators of these despicable attacks will face the full force of the law,’ he wrote in a post on X. ‘London will always stand united against those seeking to divide us.’
HARROW: Kenton United Synagogue was targeted in another suspected firebomb attack
On Friday, suspicious items – including two jars containing powder – were found near the Israeli embassy, forcing Kensington Gardens to be shut while detectives investigated.
Police said the embassy was not attacked but officers are investigating whether the items were linked to a video posted by an Iran-linked Islamist group which claimed to have targeted the building with drones carrying radioactive substances.
It follows a spate of other attacks over the last few weeks, including four ambulances run by a Jewish charity being burned down in Golders Green, north London, last month. Four people have been charged.
Two others were also arrested last week after bottles of petrol were launched at a synagogue in Finchley, north-west London.
