The Metropolitan Police stated on Wednesday that a stabbing attack against a 76-year-old and a 34-year-old “has now formally been declared a terrorist incident.”

“We are also working with the security services to ensure we have a full intelligence picture,” the department said. “One of the lines of inquiry is whether this attack was deliberately targeting the Jewish community in London.”

Laurence Taylor, assistant commissioner of specialist operations at the Met Police, stated that police officers responded to a “horrifying attack on the streets of London,” in which the victims were attacked at about 11:15 a.m. on Highfield Avenue in Barnet.

The attack occurred in the heavily Jewish neighborhood of Golders Green. A volunteer for Shomrim, the  group monitoring safety for the Jewish community in Golders Green , said the attacker had “hate in his eyes” as he set upon two Jewish bystanders with a knife on Wednesday morning.

“They suffered stab wounds in the attack and are now being looked after in hospital. Metropolitan Police officers responding to the incident were also attacked, leading to the tasering and arrest of a 45-year-old man,” Taylor said. “He was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and remains in police custody.”

“That community are strong, but they will be incredibly concerned to see and hear what has happened today, particularly in the wake of other incidents in recent weeks,” Taylor stated. “That concern will be felt not just in the capital but in communities and homes across the United Kingdom.”

According to Daily Express, counterterrorism police are investigating whether the stabbings are linked to recent arson attacks on synagogues and other Jewish sites in the British capital.

Detectives are probing a potential Iranian link to those incidents, but police said it is too soon to say whether Wednesday’s attack is connected.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog stated that he is “horrified by yet another violent attack on Jews in broad daylight on the streets of London.”

“We are praying for a speedy recovery for all those injured,” he stated. “Let me be clear. No Jew anywhere in the world should be a target because of their faith. In one of the great capital cities of the West, it has become dangerous to openly walk the streets as a Jew. This is an unacceptable situation. The British government and authorities must take urgent and immediate action before the next antisemitic attack occurs.”

“We have raised the alarm over the rise in global antisemitism again and again,” the Israeli president said. “It’s time for the world to wake up and fight this vicious wave of Jew hatred with all possible means. We in Israel will not stay silent as our Jewish sisters and brothers are threatened and attacked around the world.”

The Board of Deputies of British Jews, a more than 280-year-old group, and the Jewish Leadership Council stated that they are “sickened by yet another terrorist attack on our community, this time targeting two visibly Jewish men on the streets of London.”

“This comes after weeks of arson attacks targeting Jewish premises and just seven months after two Jews were murdered in Manchester on Yom Kippur. For many in our community, this feels relentless. Our thoughts are with the victims, and we pray for their swift recovery. We also thank the police, Shomrim, Hatzola and CST for their swift response,” the groups stated. “We cannot ignore the context: a wave of antisemitic hatred driven by extremists at home and abroad, including Islamist extremism that motivated the Heaton Park attack and attempts by the Iranian regime to orchestrate violence against British Jews.”

“This attack, and the others we have witnessed, are not only on the Jewish community but on our country and its values. It is an attack on the right to live freely, to celebrate one’s identity without fear and to walk our streets in safety,” they stated. “The government, the justice system and leaders at every level must recognize the seriousness of this moment. We will continue to demand from all relevant authorities that they respond with the urgency and resolve this challenge requires.”

“The antisemites are attempting to raise the cost of being Jewish in the United Kingdom. We must work as a society to ensure the cost of being antisemitic is far higher,” they added. “Security measures are essential, but they alone are not the answer. Government must deliver on its commitments to tackle sources of antisemitic extremism at home and abroad. We will not allow Jewish life to be forced behind barriers. British Jews will not be intimidated. But we should not face this threat alone. A silent majority offers little reassurance. This is a moment for the whole of society to speak up loudly and stand together against this hatred.”

Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis has said that visibly Jewish people are not always safe in the UK.

He named the two victims on social media where he asked for prayers for the two victims. He wrote: “Please join me in praying for a swift and complete recovery for the victims of today’s attack: Nachman Moshe ben Chaya Sarah and Moshe Ben Baila.”

He also called on the “silent community” within the British public to condemn the violence and voice support for British Jews, saying that an attack on the Jewish community was an attack on the whole nation.

He added that while many visibly Jewish people do walk around London and the country with a kippah or a Magen David without issue, “to categorically say, every Jew is safe in this country… in the light of what happened today [and]in the wake of previous events, that is not the case.”

Buckingham Palace said King Charles III, who is currently in the U.S., was “deeply concerned.”

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that “attacks on our Jewish community are attacks on Britain,” and called a meeting of the government’s emergency committee to discuss the response.

World Jewish Congress stated that “this appalling attack is part of a stark and deeply troubling rise in violent antisemitism targeting Jewish individuals and institutions across the United Kingdom and around the world.”

“Recent attacks in London, Bondi and Toronto are the direct result of the failure of law enforcement and leaders to act when extremists call to globalize the intifada, and today, once again, we are seeing the consequences of that failure on the streets of a great city,” the congress stated. “While we welcome the swift response to today’s attack, swift response is not enough. Governments must take the preventative action necessary to end this deadly pattern before more lives are lost.”