People are now afraid and it's been taken to a new level
On a Wednesday afternoon in Golders Green, north London, a 34-year-old Jewish man named Shloime Rand was stabbed in the chest by a stranger and survived what he could only call a miracle. The attack — which also wounded a 76-year-old man — has become a focal point for a community grappling with the growing weight of antisemitic violence, where the distance between fear and harm has collapsed into something undeniably real. Governments may offer funding and statements, but the deeper question this moment raises is whether institutions are willing to confront hatred at its roots, or only fortify the walls around its targets.
- A knife entered Shloime Rand's chest on a public street in broad daylight — and only his instinct to step back kept him alive.
- The suspect, Essa Suleiman, had a documented history of violence and mental health issues and had previously been referred to the government's counter-terrorism Prevent programme — a referral that was closed the same year it was opened.
- Rand's survival has amplified rather than quieted the community's alarm: friends tell him they are afraid to walk outside, scanning their surroundings, unsure of what might come next.
- The government announced £25 million in additional security funding for Jewish communities, but both the victim and community leaders say the response addresses the symptoms while leaving the disease untreated.
- Jewish leadership — from the chief rabbi to the Board of Deputies — is demanding not just protection but confrontation: a full reckoning with the forces driving antisemitism rather than barriers placed around its potential victims.
Shloime Rand was walking through Golders Green on Wednesday when a man approached him and drove a knife into his chest. He stepped back. He survived. Speaking from his hospital bed before being discharged Thursday evening, the 34-year-old returned again and again to one word: miracle. The wound had reached his lungs, and recovery would take time — but he was alive, and he knew how easily it could have been otherwise.
Also stabbed in the same attack was Moshe Shine, 76. Police arrived quickly, Tasered the suspect, and made an arrest. The man in custody, Essa Suleiman, 45, is a British citizen who came to the UK from Somalia in the early 1990s. He has a documented history of serious violence and mental health problems, and in 2020 was referred to the government's Prevent counter-terrorism programme — a referral closed that same year.
Rand's gratitude for his survival sharpened quickly into frustration. When asked whether the government had done enough to combat antisemitism, he was direct: 'Definitely not.' Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had pledged to do 'everything in our power to stamp this hatred out,' but Rand found the words hollow. What troubled him most was not his own wound but the fear spreading through his community — friends telling him they were afraid to walk outside, looking over their shoulders, sensing that something had crossed a threshold.
Jewish community leaders echoed his call. The chief rabbi demanded meaningful action on root causes; the Board of Deputies called for antisemitism to be confronted 'with the full force of the state.' The government announced £25 million in additional security funding, bringing the year's total to £58 million — directed at patrols, synagogues, schools, and community centres. Yet the gap between what was being offered and what was being asked for remained plain. Rand would recover. But the fear he described — the sense that the threat had become concrete and immediate — suggested that barriers and funding, however necessary, could not substitute for the harder work of stopping hatred before it reaches the street.
Shloime Rand was walking down a street in Golders Green on Wednesday when a man approached him and drove a knife into his chest. He managed to step back. He survived. Now, speaking from his hospital bed before discharge on Thursday evening, the 34-year-old kept returning to the same word: miracle.
"It's a very big miracle," he told the BBC. "I feel like God's given me back my life." The stab wound had penetrated deep enough to damage his lungs. He would need time to recover, to rebuild his oxygen capacity. But he was alive, and he knew it could have gone differently. "Thank God he didn't manage to take my life," he said, describing the moment he felt the blade and managed to create distance between himself and his attacker.
Rand was not alone that day. Moshe Shine, 76, was also stabbed in the same attack. Police arrived quickly, used a Taser on the suspect, and took him into custody. The man in custody is Essa Suleiman, 45, a British citizen who arrived in the UK from Somalia in the early 1990s. He remains held on suspicion of attempted murder. According to the Metropolitan Police, Suleiman has a documented history of serious violence and mental health problems. In 2020, he was referred into the government's Prevent counter-terrorism programme—a referral that was closed that same year.
But Rand's gratitude for his own survival gave way quickly to something sharper: frustration. When asked whether the government had done enough to combat antisemitism, he said flatly, "Definitely not." Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had issued a statement on Thursday promising that his government was doing "everything in our power to stamp this hatred out" and would strengthen security. Rand found it insufficient. "It's not enough," he said.
What moved him most was not his own injury but the fear he was hearing from others. "I have friends and people telling me they're scared to walk in the street," he explained. "They look all around them, they don't know what's going on. People are now afraid and it's been taken to a new level." The attack had become, in his telling, a symbol of something larger—a threshold crossed, a point at which the abstract threat of antisemitism had become concrete enough that ordinary people were changing how they moved through the world.
The Jewish community's leadership echoed his call for action. Sir Ephraim Mirvis, the UK's chief rabbi, demanded "meaningful action" to address the root causes of antisemitism. The Board of Deputies of British Jews stated that antisemitism must be "confronted, punished and deterred with the full force of the state." On Thursday, the government announced an additional £25 million in security funding for Jewish communities—money directed toward increased police patrols and protective measures around synagogues, schools, and community centers. Combined with earlier commitments, the total security investment for the year would reach £58 million.
Yet even as the funding was announced, the gap between what the government was offering and what the community was asking for remained visible. Rand had survived. He would recover. But the fear he described—the sense that something had shifted, that the threat was no longer theoretical—suggested that money for barriers and patrols, however necessary, might not be what the community needed most. They needed, it seemed, for the threat itself to be taken seriously enough to be stopped before it reached the street.
Citações Notáveis
It's a very big miracle I survived. I feel like God's given me back my life.— Shloime Rand, stabbing victim
Definitely not enough has been done to combat antisemitism, and the statements from government are not enough.— Shloime Rand
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
When Rand says it's a miracle he survived, is he speaking literally or figuratively?
Both. The knife went into his chest and damaged his lungs. An inch or two in another direction and the outcome changes entirely. But he's also speaking to something spiritual—the sense that he's been given a second chance, that something larger than chance was at work.
Why does he keep emphasizing that government statements aren't enough?
Because words don't stop knives. He's heard the Prime Minister promise action, but he's also hearing from friends who are now afraid to walk outside. The gap between a statement and a changed reality is where his frustration lives.
The suspect was referred to a counter-terrorism program in 2020 and then the referral was closed. Does that matter here?
It raises a question the reporting doesn't fully answer: what happened in those four years between the referral closing and Wednesday's attack? Was he monitored? Did something change? It suggests there were systems in place that didn't prevent this.
Is Rand asking for more police, or something else?
He's asking for the root causes to be addressed. More patrols help, but they're a symptom response. He wants antisemitism itself to be treated as urgent enough that people stop being afraid in the first place.
What does "taken to a new level" mean in his mouth?
That it's moved from abstract prejudice to physical danger. His friends aren't worried about slurs anymore—they're worried about being stabbed. That's the threshold he's marking.