A mother-of-two who narrowly escaped the Golders Green knifeman has described the terrifying moment she rushed into a shop as the attacker charged at her.
The Attack Unfolds
Natalie Mahalla, 31, from Hendon, north London, was pushing her one-year-old son in a pram when two Israeli men shouted from their car to warn her the attacker was running towards her. She grabbed her son and an elderly lady from the street and ran into a nearby shop for safety before calling the police shortly after 11.15am.
Moments later, two Jewish men, named as Shloime Rand, 34, and Moshe Shine, 76, were knifed by the 45-year-old suspect. The man tried to stab other Jewish residents and police officers before he was Tasered and arrested. Police have since declared the incident an act of terrorism, and counter-terror officers are working to establish the suspect's nationality and background.
A Mother's Fear
Mrs Mahalla told the Daily Mail she saw an 'aggressive' look on the knifeman's face and was convinced he was 'on a mission to do some harm'. She said: 'I had just been shopping, I was walking with the buggy and all of a sudden I heard a man screaming in Hebrew from the car, warning that there was a man coming very rapidly towards me. The man was shouting in Hebrew "he has a knife in his hand".'
'Immediately I did think this is a terrorist attack given everything that has happened. If you think also about where it happened, it was just metres away from the arson attacks. I saw him run past. I couldn't actually see his hand because his hand was in his sleeve, he was definitely holding something but he was covering it with his sleeve.'
The mother said she knows both of the victims, who are now in a stable condition, and their families.
Rising Antisemitic Violence
The stabbings are the latest in a spate of violence against the Jewish community. Wednesday's attack took place on Highfield Avenue, just minutes away from where four Jewish community ambulances were firebombed last month. Police are also investigating arson attacks on two other synagogues in north London and on a memorial wall in Golders Green. In October, two Jewish men were killed when Jihad Al-Shamie rammed his car into Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester before attacking congregants on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.
Mrs Mahalla said there is a feeling of 'anger' among the Jewish community. She said: '[There is] anger with the whole society. Protests are taking place with people shouting "Globalize the Intifada". This is globalizing the Intifada.'
The mother, who was woken up in the middle of the night by loud bangs during last month's arson attacks on ambulances, said she is in disbelief at the level of antisemitic violence taking place in the UK. She is now 'desperate' to move to Israel, where she believes it is much easier to be Jewish than in Britain.
She said: 'I don't look over my shoulder when I'm walking on the street in Israel. You look above your head, of course, from the rockets and things like that, but you know, at least you kind of get a warning that rockets are coming, or you know that you're going into a war. Here, there's no war. It shouldn't be that we're walking on the street and need to look over our shoulders.'
Police Response and Community Anger
Furious bystanders heckled Sir Mark Rowley at the scene of the double stabbing in north London on Wednesday as they called for him to resign after a series of antisemitic attacks. The Daily Mail has learnt that the knifeman was known to both police and the Government's Prevent deradicalisation programme prior to Wednesday's attack. It is understood that the man, who has not been named, had previously been in prison for violence.
Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiyya (HAYI) claimed responsibility for the attack just hours after the suspect's arrest, but this claim has been treated with scepticism.
The Met chief said he could 'never give an absolute assurance' when asked directly if Jews were safe, but insisted his force was doing 'everything we can do to protect people in difficult times'. Responding to shouts of 'resign' and 'shame on you', Britain's most senior policeman said he understood why Jewish Londoners feel 'afraid and angry' after the latest attack.
Speaking to journalists, Sir Mark Rowley said: 'It is completely understandable why Jewish Londoners feel afraid. That's why we're putting so much extra policing into these events. And we're going to be looking at what more we can do in forthcoming weeks. I've had so many thanks from Jewish communities over the last few weeks for all the extra policing that's done, people recognise that officers are going above and beyond to protect them.'
Sir Mark warned of a rise in antisemitic violence being fuelled from abroad, adding: 'Let me be clear, we've seen a rise in racist and antisemitic hate crime and whilst I can't comment on my investigations, we know that some individuals are being encouraged, persuaded or paid to commit acts of violence on behalf of foreign organisations and hostile states.'
