Starmer Demands Swift Crackdown on UK Gaza Protests Amid Rising Antisemitic Incidents

LONDON – In a recent address, Britain’s prime minister emphasized the need for stricter measures against individuals chanting specific phrases during pro-Palestinian rallies, amid rising concerns for the safety of the Jewish community in the UK following the stabbing of two Jewish men in London.

Keir Starmer expressed his unwavering support for the right to protest but suggested that certain demonstrations opposing the conflict in Gaza might need to be restricted. He highlighted a “cumulative effect” from recurring pro-Palestinian protests that has seemingly contributed to an increase in antisemitic incidents across the country.

“Certain chants, like ‘globalize the intifada,’ stand out as needing more stringent control,” Starmer remarked during an interview with the BBC. The term intifada is commonly understood to mean “uprising” in Arabic.

Following an incident on Wednesday where two Jewish men were stabbed in Golders Green, a predominantly Jewish neighborhood in London, a 45-year-old man was charged with attempted murder. Authorities have classified the attack as an act of terrorism.

This attack is part of a disturbing trend that includes recent arson attempts on synagogues and other Jewish establishments in the capital.

The U.K.’s most senior police officer warned Friday that British Jews are facing their greatest ever threat, and blamed social media for making antisemitism more mainstream than before.

Mark Rowley, the head of the Metropolitan Police, said British Jews are now the target of every extremist group spreading hate.

“The ghastly fact is that Jews are on everybody’s list, all of those hateful groups, whether you’re extreme right, whether you’re extreme left, whether you’re Islamist terrorist, whether you’re right-wing terrorist, and some hostile states as well now with some sort of Iranian-related threats,” he told The Times. “There’s a ghastly Venn diagram that they’re at the middle of.”

Britain’s official terror threat level was raised from substantial to severe after Wednesday’s stabbing attack. Severe is the second-highest on a five-point scale and means intelligence agencies consider an attack highly likely in the next six months.

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

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.