Three Charged With Arson in Attack on U.K. Jewish Charity’s Ambulances

Two men and a 17-year-old have been charged with arson in connection with an attack in London last month that destroyed four ambulances belonging to a Jewish volunteer emergency service.

The vehicles, which were set afire early on March 23, were parked outside a synagogue in Golders Green, a residential area in north London with a large Jewish community. Oxygen cylinders inside the vehicles exploded, causing windows to break in an adjacent apartment building, the London fire service said. No injuries were reported.

Two British men, Hamza Iqbal, 20, and Rehan Khan, 19, were charged with arson, London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement on Friday. A 17-year-old dual British-Pakistani national, whose name was not released because of his age, was also charged. The defendants, all residents of east London, were scheduled to appear on Saturday at a preliminary hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

The police said that “at this stage,” the attack on the ambulances “has not been declared as terrorism.”

The attack brought widespread condemnation, including from Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain, amid a rise in antisemitic incidents in Europe and elsewhere.

“We know that local community concerns continue to remain high — particularly for our Jewish communities in the Passover festival period,” Detective Chief Superintendent Luke Williams said in the police statement.

He said more officers had been deployed in Golders Green and elsewhere in London, including “highly visible armed police patrols to serve as a deterrent to anyone seeking to cause our communities harm.”

The ambulances were operated by Hatzola, a volunteer service. Mr. Starmer’s government said after the attack that it would cover the cost of replacing them and would loan ambulances to the service in the meantime.

The defendants were arrested on Wednesday at three different addresses in east London, which were searched by specialist officers from London’s counterterrorism policing unit. They were leading the investigation because of “the circumstances of the incident,” according to the statement.