Four men have pleaded guilty to what prosecutors have called a planned and targeted attack on the Jewish population.
They set fire to four ambulances belonging to the Jewish volunteer emergency service Hatzola, parked outside a synagogue in Golders Green in North London.
This was reported by Times of Israel on Saturday, following the hearing at the Old Bailey on Friday, 28 August 2026.
Those who pleaded guilty are British citizens Hamza Iqbal (20), Rehan Khan (19) and Judex Atshatshi (18), as well as British-Pakistani Saif Ali (18).
Photo: London Met Police.
Iqbal, Khan and Atshatshi pleaded guilty via video link from prison. Ali appeared in court in person, wearing a white shirt.
Document reported on the charges against Iqbal, Khan and the then 17-year-old on 4 April. The other two perpetrators could only be named later.
The guilty pleas at the Old Bailey establish what the prosecutor has said all along: This was a planned attack on Jews and on the Jewish ambulance service in the heart of London.
Three of them set fire to the four fully equipped ambulances on the night of 23 March 2026. The fourth waited in the getaway car. Gas canisters in the vehicles exploded.
The damage is estimated at one million pounds, equivalent to 1.4 million dollars. Each ambulance was worth around £250,000. The synagogue and neighbouring flats were also damaged.
The four have been remanded in custody and are due to be sentenced in the spring of 2027. Their defence lawyers deny that they have “terrorist links” to groups proscribed in Britain.
A fifth defendant, Subhan Ahmed (18), pleaded not guilty to assisting an offender. He is due to stand trial at the Old Bailey in January 2027.
The attack was one of several against Jewish targets in the first weeks after the United States and Israel went to war with Iran on 28 February 2026.
The Iran-linked Islamist group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiyah (HAYI), also known as the Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right, claimed responsibility for the ambulance fire and several other attacks.
The British government has announced that HAYI is a national security threat and is to be proscribed.
At the end of April, two Jewish men were stabbed in Golders Green. The perpetrator has been charged with attempting to murder them, as well as a member of the Somali community.
Hatzola is a volunteer service that responds to everyone in the area, Jews and non-Jews alike. Four of the service’s ambulances were completely destroyed.
