Counterterror police probe arson attack at a former London synagogue amid antisemitic attacks

LONDON (AP) — Counterterror police were investigating an arson attack at a former London synagogue Tuesday as Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosted a meeting to respond to a recent wave of antisemitic attacks that have caused outrage and fear in the Jewish community.

Gates and a lock on the front of the former temple in the Whitechapel area of east London had minor damage, but no one was injured, Metropolitan Police said.

The incident is the latest attack since four ambulances owned by a Jewish charity were torched in March. Since then, a synagogue was firebombed and other Jewish sites have been targeted in attempted arsons. Last week, two Jewish men were stabbed in what police have called an act of terror.

“It is part of a pattern of rising antisemitism that has left our Jewish communities feeling frightened, angry, and asking whether this country, their home, is safe for them,” Starmer told community leaders. “These disgusting attacks are being made against British Jews. But, make no mistake, this crisis — it is a crisis for all of us.”

The number of antisemitic incidents reported across the U.K. has soared since the attack by Hamas-led militants on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the subsequent war in Gaza, according to the Community Security Trust charity. The group recorded 3,700 incidents in 2025, up from 1,662 in 2022.

The wave of recent attacks have come since the Feb. 28 start of the Iran war and police are looking into whether they are the work of Iranian proxies.

A pro-Iran group calling itself Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia — or Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right — has claimed responsibility for several of the attacks. It has also admitted being behind incidents in recent months at places of worship, business and financial institutions across Europe, all of which appear to be linked to Jewish or Israeli interests.

“One of the lines of inquiry is whether a foreign state has been behind some of these incidents,” Starmer said. “Our message to Iran, or to any other country that might seek to foment violence, hatred or division in society, is that it will not be tolerated.”

Starmer promised to take action to tackle antisemitism, including requiring universities to publish the scale of the problem and take steps to stop it. Arts funding will be withdrawn from anyone promoting antisemitism.

Britain raised its terror threat level from substantial to severe — the second-highest on a five-point scale — after the stabbings. The rating means intelligence agencies consider an attack highly likely in the next six months.

The change was not solely due to the knifings but also “from Islamist and extreme right-wing terrorist threat from individuals and small groups based in the U.K,” the government said.

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, center, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley, right, and Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, 2nd left, speak with members of the Jewish community during a visit to Golders Green, north west London, Thursday April 30, 2026, following an attack on Wednesday in which two men were stabbed. (Stefan Rousseau/Pool via AP)

Police on duty outside Golders Green tube station in London, Thursday, April 30, 2026, near the scene where two people were recently stabbed in the Golders Green neighbourhood, that has a large Jewish community. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Two men walk in London, Thursday, April 30, 2026, near the scene where two people were recently stabbed in the Golders Green neighbourhood, that has a large Jewish community. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks, during a meeting with leaders from across society to discuss tackling antisemitism, at Downing Street in London, Tuesday, May 5, 2026. (Hannah McKay/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks, during a meeting with leaders from across society to discuss tackling antisemitism, at Downing Street in London, Tuesday, May 5, 2026. (Hannah McKay/Pool Photo via AP)

CAIRO (AP) — The Sudanese government accused Ethiopia of being behind recent drone attacks on sites including Khartoum airport and recalled its ambassador on Tuesday.

A military spokesperson in Sudan said the government has evidence that four drone strikes that have happened since March 1 came from neighboring Ethiopia’s Bahir Dar airport. It also accused the United Arab Emirates of supplying the drones.

The Sudanese military has been at war with a paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces since April 2023, when the RSF stormed the capital. The battles have now shifted towards more drone warfare concentrating in the Kordofan and Blue Nile states.

Sudan has long accused the UAE of supporting the RSF, and U.N. experts and rights groups have also accused it of providing arms to the group. The UAE has rejected the accusation.

The most recent attack came on Monday and targeted the airport in Sudan's capital, Khartoum. The previous attacks were launched towards the Sudanese states of Kordofan, Blue Nile and White Nile.

Army spokesman Brig. Gen. Asim Awad Abdelwahab said at a Tuesday press conference that the government had analyzed data and evidence from a drone that entered Sudanese airspace heading for El-Obeid in Kordofan state on March 17 and found that it had originated from the United Arab Emirates and took off from Ethiopia.

"We do not want to initiate aggression against any country, but whoever attacks us will be met with a response,” Sudanese Foreign Minister Mohi al-Din Salem said in the joint presser.

Ethiopia's foreign ministry in a statement Tuesday said it “rejects (the) baseless accusations.” It accused Sudan of violating its territorial integrity by supporting rebels in the northern Tigray region but said it had exercised restraint from publicizing the violations due to the ties between the two countries.

“It is evident that these hostile actions, as well as the recent and earlier series of allegations by officials of Sudanese armed forces, are undertaken at the behest of external patrons seeking to advance their own nefarious agenda,” the statement said.

Sudan's airport’s gradual reopening last year marked a key step in efforts to restore normal life in Khartoum, with ministries and millions of people starting their return back to the capital and surrounding states. The U.N migration agency said that around 4 million people have returned back to Sudan.

Drone attacks have happened frequently in the war, but Khartoum was considered largely safe until a string of attacks shattered the sense of calm in the capital and central Sudan.

A drone strike Saturday in Omdurman, the capital's sister city, killed five people in a civilian bus and another strike Sunday in central Sudan state of Al Jazirah killed family members, of Abu Agla Kaikal, a commander with the Sudan Shield Forces, a group allied with the Sudanese military, who defected from the RSF earlier in the war.

At least 59,000 people have been killed in the war, according to Armed Conflict Location & Event Data, an independent conflict-monitoring body. Aid groups, however, say the true toll could be much higher, as access to areas of fighting across the vast country remains limited.

FILE - Khartoum International Airport ground workers greet the first domestic Sudan Airways flight landing from Port Sudan, in Khartoum, Sudan, on Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali, File)