Attacks on Jewish people in the UK are "the biggest national security emergency" in almost a decade, the government's adviser on terrorism has told the BBC.

Jonathan Hall KC said British Jews were "now thinking they cannot live a normal life" due to a series of incidents in recent months where Jewish communities have been targeted.

The most recent of these came on Wednesday, when two Jewish men were stabbed in Golders Green, north London, in what police have declared as a terrorist incident.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said she did not agree that attacks against Jewish people amounted to a national emergency, but she insisted the government was treating the issue as an "absolute priority".

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She also said that she viewed the rise in antisemitic attacks as an emergency for her in her role as home secretary.

"The phrase national emergency has particular connotations... it means for a period you change your democracy and you disapply some elements of our democratic society," she told BBC Breakfast.

"I don't believe this is where we are today," she said.

The two victims of Wednesday's attack have been named locally as Shloime Rand, 34, and Moshe Shine, 76. A 45-year-old British national, who came to the UK from Somalia as a child, has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.

At a meeting of criminal justice agencies on Thursday, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said there was "no getting away from the fact that this was not a one-off".

"This has been a series of attacks on our Jewish community," he said, adding the response from agencies must be "swift and visible".

Sir Keir said the fight against antisemitism was one for all Britons, not just the Jewish community, as it is "about what sort of a country do we want to live in".

The government has announced an extra £25m in funding for increased police patrols and security in Jewish communities.

The funding will also be used to put further protections in place around synagogues, schools and community centres.

Sir Ephraim Mirvis, the UK's chief rabbi, said Wednesday's attack "proves that if you are visibly Jewish, you're not safe and far more needs to be done".

He called for "meaningful action" to tackle the "root causes" of antisemitism.

Meanwhile, the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council said they were "sickened" by the attack, adding that security measures were essential but "not the answer".

"British Jews will not be intimidated. But we should not face this threat alone," their joint statement read.

Mahmood said she understood that there was fear within the community, adding that the government was putting more policing and security in place "so that people can go about their business".

She said she accepted that security could only tackle the "end of the problem" and that more must be done to address antisemitism "at its root".

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said it was "shameful" that attacks on Jewish communities were happening "on such a frequent basis" in the UK and agreed with Hall that it amounted to a national emergency.

"I think from the government, words are no longer enough," he told BBC Breakfast.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage also said the situation was an emergency and urged the government to show "real action" beyond their words.

Labour MP Sarah Sackman, who represents Finchley and Golders Green, said Wednesday's attack demonstrated that "threats to Jewish people in this country are very real".

Sackman, who is Jewish herself, told BBC Newsnight: "When I take my children to synagogue in my local area, I find myself holding and gripping their hand a little bit tighter. I know I'm not alone in that."

Meanwhile, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the British government to do more to protect the Jewish community, with a statement referencing "weakness" in the face of "one antisemitic attack after another".

Wednesday's attack follows a spate of incidents in recent months targeting Jewish communities in the UK:

• 2 October 2025: Two Jewish people were killed and three left in a serious condition after a car ramming and stabbing attack outside a synagogue in Manchester. One of the men was killed by a bullet fired by police.
• 23 March 2026: Four Jewish charity-owned ambulances were set on fire in the car park of a synagogue in Golders Green
• 15 April: A brick and two bottles thought to contain petrol were thrown at the Finchley Reform Synagogue in north London
• 17 April: Suspicious items, later found to be non-hazardous, were found near the Israeli embassy in London. A video posted to social media claimed the embassy was going to be attacked by drones
• 18 April: A bottle containing a type of accelerant was thrown through the window of Kenton United Synagogue in north-west London
• 27 April: A suspected arson attack was carried out at a memorial wall in Golders Green. The wall contained tributes to people killed by the Iranian regime during anti-government protests earlier this year, as well as a section to those killed in the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel