London police said they were hunting two suspects after an "attempted arson attack" on a synagogue in the north of the capital, amid an upsurge in antisemitic incidents.
The pair, dressed in dark clothing and balaclavas, approached the synagogue in Finchley shortly after midnight and "threw two bottles suspected to contain petrol," which did not ignite, the Metropolitan Police Force said in a statement.
The attack comes after an arson attack on ambulances run by a Jewish charity in London last month and a deadly attack on a synagogue in Manchester in October 2025.
The incident, which police said was being treated as an "antisemitic hate crime", was being investigated with support from counter-terrorism detectives.
Monitoring groups have reported an upsurge in antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents in Britain, particularly since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
The Community Security Trust recorded 3,700 instances of anti-Jewish hate across the UK last year, a 4% rise on 2024, but down on 2023.
Two men and a boy have been charged over the ambulance attack on 23 March, in which four ambulances run by the volunteer organisation Hatzola were destroyed.
It provides free medical transportation and emergency response to those living in north London.
On 2 October, 2025, during the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, the attack on the synagogue in Manchester killed two people and seriously injured three, prompting increased anxiety among Jewish communities.
In February, a court jailed two men for life after police foiled a separate plot to carry out an Islamic State-inspired gun attack on a Jewish gathering in Manchester.
Two Iranians also appeared in court in London in March, accused of spying on the Jewish community in London on behalf of Tehran.
