Four young men have admitted in a UK court that they were behind an arson attack in London that destroyed four ambulances belonging to the Jewish charity Hatzola, which were parked outside a synagogue.
British nationals Hamza Iqbal, 20, Rehan Khan, 19, and Judex Atshatshi, 18, and British-Pakistani national Saif Ali, 18, all pleaded guilty to criminal damage in connection with the 23 March 2026 attack in Golders Green, an area with a significant Jewish population.
Three of the men set fire to the ambulances, while the fourth waited in a getaway car. The arson attack destroyed all four vehicles, causing an estimated £1 million ($1.4 million) in damage.
Iqbal, Khan and Atshatshi entered their pleas by video link, while Ali, wearing a white shirt, appeared in the dock at London’s Old Bailey, the Central Criminal Court.
The men were remanded in custody and are expected to be sentenced in spring 2027. Defence lawyers denied allegations that the four defendants had any “terrorism” connections to groups proscribed in the UK.
A fifth defendant, Subhan Ahmed, 18, pleaded not guilty to assisting an offender and is due to stand trial at the Old Bailey in January.
At a previous hearing, prosecution lawyer Emma Harraway told the court there was strong evidence that the attack on the ambulances was “a premeditated and targeted attack against the Jewish community”.
The arson was one of a spate of attacks on Jewish communities during the early weeks of the war launched by the US and Israel against Iran on 28 February.
In Golders Green, a terrorist also stabbed two Jewish men in late April 2026 and was later charged with attempting to murder them, as well as a fellow member of the Somali community.
An Iran-linked group known as Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiyah (HAYI) had previously claimed responsibility for multiple attacks, including the destruction of the ambulances.
The UK government has announced plans to ban HAYI, also known as the Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right, as a national security threat.
