By Lucy Caulkett-
LONDON, Aug. 28 — Four young British men have admitted carrying out an arson attack on four ambulances belonging to a Jewish volunteer emergency service in London, an incident that prosecutors say caused about £1 million ($1.36 million) in damage and marked the beginning of a series of attacks targeting the capital’s Jewish community this year.
Hamza Iqbal, 20, Rehan Khan, 19, Judex Atshatshi, 18, and Saif Ali, 18, appeared at the Old Bailey on Friday and pleaded guilty to destroying or damaging the ambulances while being reckless as to whether life would be endangered.
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The vehicles, operated by Hatzola, were set ablaze on March 23 while parked near a synagogue. Hatzola is a not-for-profit volunteer emergency medical service that works alongside Britain’s National Health Service and primarily serves the Orthodox Jewish community in north London. Its volunteers respond to medical emergencies and provide assistance regardless of a patient’s background.
The attack therefore struck not only at property but at a service designed to provide emergency assistance to people in moments of acute vulnerability. The Community Security Trust (CST), a charity responsible for helping protect Jewish communities in Britain, welcomed the guilty pleas and condemned the attack as antisemitic.
“This was an appalling antisemitic act against a volunteer ambulance service,” the CST said, describing Hatzola as an organisation that provides emergency medical assistance to people of all backgrounds.
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The case has also raised questions about the wider pattern of arson attacks that followed in London during April and May. A synagogue and a former synagogue were targeted, while Iran International, a Persian-language media organisation, and a memorial wall dedicated to people killed in Iran were also attacked.
British police said they were investigating possible Iranian connections to the incidents. A pro-Iranian group known as Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiyya, or HAYI, claimed responsibility for the Hatzola attack and some of the other fires. The SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist activity online, has previously linked HAYI to similar arson attacks in Europe.
The precise nature and extent of any links between the four defendants and the organisation remain a matter for the courts and investigators. The guilty pleas establish the defendants’ responsibility for the criminal acts to which they admitted, but do not by themselves establish the wider allegations concerning foreign direction or involvement.
Evidence presented by prosecutors at an earlier hearing indicated that investigators found searches on Iqbal’s phone including “how much do ambulances cost” and a query concerning how long police investigations into arson take. Prosecutors have used the searches as part of the evidence surrounding the attack.
A fifth defendant, 18-year-old Subhan Ahmed, pleaded not guilty to a charge of assisting an offender concerning the disposal of a vehicle allegedly used in the incident. He is expected to stand trial next year.
The case comes against a long and painful history of antisemitism in Britain and Europe. Jewish communities have faced discrimination, violence and persecution for centuries, from the medieval expulsions of Jews from England to the antisemitic movements that emerged across Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The Holocaust, in which Nazi Germany and its collaborators murdered approximately six million Jews during the Second World War, remains the defining historical example of how antisemitic hatred can escalate from prejudice and propaganda into organised mass violence. Britain itself became a refuge for thousands of Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution, including children evacuated through the Kindertransport in the late 1930s.
Modern Britain has generally offered Jewish citizens legal protection and a prominent place within public life, but antisemitism has not disappeared. Jewish organisations have continued to record incidents ranging from verbal abuse and vandalism to threats and physical attacks. Security around synagogues, Jewish schools and community institutions has consequently become an established feature of communal life.
The destruction of emergency vehicles carries an additional significance because ambulances are symbols of public safety and humanitarian assistance. Hatzola volunteers operate in the same emergency environment
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