Arson

Shortly before 22:00 BST on 7 May, Lavryovych sent Pochynok a message on Telegram saying: “Look, we won’t talk much on the phone. At that address, there’ll be a car, need to check if it’s there. If it is there then basically today we’ll do the job. We’ll have money. And this week, if we plan everything well today, tomorrow there may be another one, we’ll make more money.”

April 20 (UPI) — British police overnight arrested two teens in connection with an attempted arson of a London synagogue, authorities said Monday as they investigate a rash of recent attacks targeting the Jewish community as possible terrorism.

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson told UPI in an emailed statement Monday that a 17-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man were arrested overnight in the London area for the weekend arson attack targeting Kenton United Synagogue in Harrow, northwest London.

The suspects, who were not identified, remained in police custody on Monday when authorities were expected to announce additional details.

The synagogue was attacked overnight Saturday, suffering only minor smoke damage to an internal room, according to Community Security Trust, a British charity with the mission to protect Britain’s Jewish community. It said in a statement that no injuries or significant structural damage were reported.

There have been at least five separate arson attacks in London since four ambulances used by the Jewish community in Golders Green were set ablaze March 23.

Police said there were three attacks over the weekend: the one targeting Kenton United, another targeting a communal block in Barnet and a third late Friday, targeting a row of shops in Hendon.

Several people have been arrested in connection with the various attacks, including a fourth person detained related to the Golders Green arson attack on Thursday.

The Met’s Counter Terrorism Policing unit is leading an investigation into all of these incidents, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Vicki Evans told reporters outside Kenton United in a Sunday press conference, stating that the “nature” of all the crimes has been similar — “arson attacks targeting Israeli- and Jewish-linked premises in London.”

Most of the attacks have been claimed online by Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, which translates to the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right, Evans said.

“This same group has claimed several incidents over recent months at places of worship, business and financial institutions across Europe. These locations all appear to be linked to Jewish or Israeli interests,” she said.

The attacks were committed amid the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.

The Met said that, as the conflict continues, its Counter Terrorism Policing unit is aware the threat Iran poses to Britain and is investigating whether those who committed these arson attacks in London had been recruited by the group to carry out its crimes.

Those recruited often have no allegiance to Iran’s cause but are paid with “quick cash,” she said.

“To anyone even considering getting involved — my message to you would be this — the stakes are high — and it is absolutely not worth the risk for a small reward,” she said.

“Those asking you will not be there when you are arrested and face court. You will be used once and thrown away without a second thought.”

Ashab al-Yamin, a front group with suspected links to Iran, has claimed responsibility for several attacks in Europe targeting Jewish and Western institutions since March 9, according to a report published earlier this month by the Washington-based nonpartisan Foundation for Defense of Democracies research institute.

No deaths have been reported in the attacks that have spanned Belgium, the Netherlands, Greece and Britain, it said.

The latest attack at a Jewish site in the UK capital occurs at Kenton United Synagogue and causes minor damage.

The United Kingdom’s Metropolitan Police are investigating whether a recent spate of arson attacks on Jewish sites in North London could be linked to Iranian proxies.

Counter Terrorism Policing is leading investigations into the incidents, the Met Police said on Sunday, after an arson attack at the Kenton United Synagogue in northwestern London occurred overnight.

There have been no injuries in the blazes, the latest of which caused minor damage.

Vicki Evans, deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said most of the attacks have been claimed by the Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia group (Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right), often shortened to Ashab al-Yamin.

She said the group has also claimed several incidents at places of worship as well as business and financial institutions in Europe in recent months.

Evans said police were aware of “public reporting that this group may have links to Iran”.

She added that she has spoken before about Iran’s “routine uses of criminal proxies” and police were considering whether this tactic of “recruiting violence as a service” was being used in London.

Ashab al-Yamin emerged online in March and has claimed responsibility for several attacks on Jewish sites in Europe. It also claimed responsibility for an attack on the Persian-language Iran International news channel in London.

Recent arson incidents in London have included a bottle containing accelerant being thrown inside the Finchley Reform Synagogue in North London on Wednesday and Jewish-owned Hatzola ambulances being set alight in the car park of a synagogue in Golders Green on March 23. On Friday night, a man tried to light a bag containing three bottles of fluid outside the former premises of the Jewish Futures charity in Hendon.

The UK’s chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, said the Kenton fire was the third “cowardly” attack on Jewish sites in the British capital in less than a week.

“A sustained campaign of violence and intimidation against the Jewish community of the UK is gathering momentum,” Mirvis said on X. “Thank God, no lives have been lost, but we cannot, and must not, wait for that to change before we understand just how dangerous this moment is for all of our society.”

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was “appalled” by the recent attacks at Jewish sites and those responsible would be brought to justice.

“This is abhorrent and it will not be tolerated. Attacks on our Jewish community are attacks on Britain,” he said in a post on X.

April 7 (UPI) — Fire ripped through a Kimberly-Clark paper goods warehouse early Tuesday in Ontario, Calif., spewing smoke and ash into the sky in a tremendous black plume.

The blaze was first reported about 1:45 a.m., and responders from the Ontario Fire Department found heavy smoke and fire when arriving. More than 100 emergency personnel from that and at least four other departments worked to contain the fire into the day.

Officials said about 20 people were at the 1.2 million-square-foot warehouse when the fire broke out; there were no initial reports of injuries.

The fire department warned area residents, especially seniors and children, of poor air quality connected with heavy smoke and ash from the blaze and advised people to remain inside.

Ontario Deputy Fire Chief Mike Wedell told KNBC-TV in Los Angeles that the fire department identified the blaze as “suspicious in nature.” Police were questioning a warehouse employee in connection with the fire.

A Kimberly-Clark representative told KCBS-TV in Los Angeles that a third-party partner operated the warehouse and that the company was working with that partner and local authorities. Kimberly-Clark, based in Irving, Texas, manufactures mostly paper products, including brands such as Cottonelle, Scott, Huggies and Kleenex.

April 4 (UPI) — A fourth man suspected of being involved in an attack on a Jewish volunteer ambulance service was arrested when he attended a hearing for three of his alleged accomplices.

On March 26, four ambulances that belong to a Jewish community organization were torched in the Golders Green area of North London in an attack that police said was aimed at terrorizing the Jewish community there.

Police on Saturday arrested a fourth suspect in the attack during a hearing for three people — two British citizens, Hamza Iqbal, 20, and Rehan Khan, 19, as well as a 17-year-old with dual British-Pakistani citizenship — who had already been charged in the crime, The BBC reported.

Officers, who already were aware that four people were responsible for the arson, recognized a 19-year-old man who was suspected of participating and arrested him at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

Golders Green has a large Jewish population and the four people are suspected for being responsible for oxygen cylinders in four ambulances parked outside a synagogue there that exploded on March 23, The New York Times reported.

All four were arrested, although the 19-year-old arrested while entering the courthouse has not formally been charged, while the other three face an April 24 court date.

Two other men also had been arrested and released on bail, but also will be expected in court in April.

The four ambulances were operated by Hatzolah, an organization that was started in 1973 in New York by a group of Orthodox Jews trained in First Aid and CPR looking to assist their local community, according to the group’s website.

Court records show well over $1 million in damage in what prosecutors called a “premeditated and targeted attack against the Jewish community.”

Since its founding, volunteer ambulance groups associated with the organization have been established across the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico, South Africa and Australia, among other places.

Violence against Jewish people and organizations has increased over the course of the past year globally, including in London.

The Metropolitan Police said it has deployed “highly visible armed police patrols” to areas with larger Jewish populations because of a series of fires and attacks across Europe and the United States that have been blamed on doing business with Jewish people.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley said at the beginning of the week that a claim of responsibility by a group with links to Iran was being investigated but stopped short of officially placing blame.

“Whoever was responsible, the impact is serious,” Rowley said.

Run by volunteers, it has served the north London community of Golders Green, which has a large Jewish population, since 1979. There are dozens of synagogues throughout the area and according to the London Data Store, 49% of residents in the Golders Green ward identify as Jewish.