London synagogue arsonist released on bail amid spate of attacks on Jewish community
The judge said the 17-year-old assailant must not enter any synagogue; three Jewish institutions were targeted in arson attacks within a week
James Manning/PA Images via Getty Images
Rabbi Yehuda Black (C) identifies himself to a police officer as he enters the restricted zone outside the Kenton United Synagogue in Harrow, north-west London, after an attempted arson attack overnight on April 19, 2026.
The arsonist who pleaded guilty to attacking a North London synagogue on Saturday night was released on bail by the Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.
The 17-year-old boy, whose name has not been disclosed due to his age, threw a bottle containing accelerant through the window of Kenton United Synagogue, according to the Metropolitan Police. The Community Security Trust, U.K.’s Jewish security organization, said that the building faced minor smoke damage but no injuries. It was the third such attack on a Jewish institution in London within a week.
District Judge Nina Tempia granted the arsonist bail under the conditions that he live and sleep at his home address and not enter any synagogue, or he will be re-arrested, The Independent reported.
A second suspect, a 19-year-old male, was also arrested after the attack and had been released on bail earlier this week, the Met Police said.
Shortly before the arrests of the two teenagers, U.K. Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis condemned the “sustained campaign of violence and intimidation” targeting British Jews.
Two suspects in an arson attack on London’s Finchley Reform Synagogue last Wednesday were also released on bail. On Friday, a building that used to house the Jewish Futures charity which still bears its name on the side was targeted in another arson attack. Also last week, police launched an investigation into a video posted to social media claiming the Israeli Embassy was going to be attacked with drones carrying “dangerous substances” — the embassy said it was not ultimately attacked and police said suspicious items found nearby were “non-hazardous.”
In addition, four ambulances belonging to a Jewish volunteer emergency service in the heavily Jewish London suburb Golders Green were set on fire last month. Four people have been charged in that attack, which the Met Police said they were investigating as an antisemitic hate crime.
British authorities are investigating whether the recent surge of attacks targeting Jewish institutions in the country is linked to Iran.
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