Golders Green ‘attacker’ also charged with trying to kill long-time friend

A man has appeared in court charged with attempted murder over the Golders Green attacks yesterday.

Essa Suleiman, 45, is accused of trying to kill Shloime Rand, 34, and Norman Shine, 76, during a knife rampage through the streets of the north London suburb on Wednesday.

He is accused of having a black handled knife during the attacks.

And Suleiman is also charged with the attempted murder of a third man, long-time friend Ishmail Hussein, earlier the same day at a property in Great Dover Street in Southwark, south London.

He appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court today where he was remanded into custody ahead of his next hearing at the Old Bailey on May 15.

Suleiman was born in Somalia and came to the UK legally as a child in the 1990s.

He was reported to Prevent, the Government’s anti-extremism programme, in 2020 but the case was closed the same year.

Suleiman was tasered and arrested after the double stabbing which saw two Jewish men – Shloime Rand, 34, and Moshe Ben Baila, 76, named locally as Moshe Shine – taken to hospital.

Mr Rand told the BBC it was a ‘miracle’ he survived, adding: ‘I feel like God’s given me back my life.’

He has been discharged from hospital and is now recovering at home after receiving stitches, Rabbi Levi Schapiro from the Jewish Community Council, who has visited both victims, said on social media.

Mr Shine remains in hospital and in a stable condition.

Commander Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, which is leading the investigation, said: ‘Our thoughts remain with the victims involved and specialist officers continue to provide them with support as their recovery continues.

‘We are determined to get justice for the victims and now that a person has been charged, I would urge everyone to avoid any further speculation in relation to this case so that justice can run its course.’

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer acknowledged that Jews in the UK were ‘scared’ during a speech from Downing Street on Thursday, having been heckled earlier as he visited the scene of the stabbing.

A group of around 100 people could be heard chanting ‘Keir Starmer, Jew harmer’ and held posters with the same slogan.

The PM said new powers are needed to ‘tackle the malign threat posed by states like Iran’ that ‘want to harm British Jews’.

He also pledged more funding for Jewish security services and to speed up sentencing for antisemitic crimes to act as a deterrent after the Golders Green attack.

The Metropolitan Police said pro-Palestine marches across the country will be assessed after the UK terrorism threat level was raised to ‘severe’ by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre on Thursday, meaning a terror attack is ‘highly likely’.

The decision is not solely a result of the Golders Green attack, the Home Office said, adding the threat level in the UK has been ‘rising for some time’.

The last time the level was raised to severe was in November 2021 after two attacks in the space of a month, with a bombing outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital on Remembrance Sunday and the murder of Conservative MP for Southend West Sir David Amess in October.

The Stop the War Coalition is planning a major demonstration in London on May 16 to mark Nakba Day, commemorating the 1948 displacement of Palestinians during the creation of Israel.

Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley criticised Green Party leader Zack Polanski for retweeting an X post accusing officers of ‘repeatedly and violently kicking a mentally ill man in the head’ when he was already incapacitated from being tasered.

Sir Mark Rowley said he was ‘disappointed’, adding the post was ‘inaccurate and misinformed’.

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