British Jews are not a large group. Just 287,000 people described themselves as Jewish, in either a religious or an ethnic sense, when filling in the 2021 census of England and Wales. Hindus are more than three times as numerous, and the census counted just under 4m Muslims. And, like many other religious and ethnic-minority groups(少数族群), Jews are dispersing(分散) from the old urban neighbourhoods. The Jewish population is growing most quickly not in long-established Jewish districts like Golders Green, in north-west London, but in commuter towns(通勤城镇) like Borehamwood.
英国犹太人并不多。在2021年英格兰和威尔士人口普查中，只有28.7万人从宗教或民族意义上将自己描述为犹太人。印度教徒的人数超过其三倍，而普查统计的穆斯林人数略低于400万。此外，与许多其他宗教和少数族裔群体一样，犹太人正在从旧的城市社区向外分散。犹太人口增长最快的并非伦敦西北部长期形成的犹太社区如戈尔德斯格林，而是像博勒姆伍德这样的通勤城镇。
All of which helps explain why a wave of antisemitic attacks(一波反犹袭击) in London feels especially terrifying. On April 29th two Jewish men were stabbed in Golders Green. Police have charged Essa Suleiman, a 45-year-old of Somali heritage, with attempted murder and declared the assault a terrorist incident. The stabbings were the latest in a series of violent acts since March. Synagogues and other Jewish institutions have been targeted with incendiary devices(燃烧装置). Sir Keir Starmer, the prime minister, told a hastily convened summit(紧急召集的峰会) in Downing Street on May 5th that the latest attack was “part of a pattern of rising antisemitism that has left our Jewish communities feeling frightened, angry and asking whether this country, their home, is safe for them”.
这一切有助于解释为何伦敦的一波反犹袭击显得格外恐怖。4月29日，两名犹太男子在戈尔德斯格林被刺伤。警方指控45岁的索马里裔埃萨·苏莱曼谋杀未遂，并将此次袭击定性为恐怖事件。此次刺伤是自3月以来一系列暴力事件中的最新一起。犹太教堂和其他犹太机构遭到燃烧装置袭击。首相基尔·斯塔默爵士在5月5日紧急召集的唐宁街峰会上表示，最新袭击是“不断升级的反犹主义的一部分，这让我们的犹太社区感到恐惧、愤怒，并质疑这个国家——他们的家园——是否对他们安全”。
Mr Suleiman was also accused of attempting to murder an acquaintance, Ishmail Hussein, in south London earlier on the same day as the stabbings in Golders Green. He seems to have had mental-health issues(精神健康问题). More than a decade ago he had been jailed for attacking a police officer and dog. In 2020 he was referred to Prevent, the government’s counter-extremism programme(反极端主义项目) (the case was closed).
苏莱曼先生还被指控在戈尔德斯格林刺伤案的同一天早些时候，在伦敦南部企图谋杀一名熟人伊斯梅尔·侯赛因。他似乎有精神健康问题。十多年前，他曾因袭击一名警察和一条警犬而入狱。2020年，他被转介到政府的反极端主义项目“预防”（该案已结案）。
Tolerate everything except intolerance
容忍一切除了不容忍