I was at Golders Green hours after Monday's shocking attack. I felt increasing anger and shame throughout the day - Mark White

Mark White
Fri, 27 Mar 2026 08:48:48 +0000
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As a front-line correspondent, you get used to the early morning alerts - the news of unfolding events that require an immediate response.

Monday's news of a firebomb attack on London's Jewish community was, I'm sad to say, no surprise to me.

But throughout that day, as we scrambled to bring the latest on the attack to the GB News audience, I felt increasing anger and shame that this small but important part of our nation should have to face this growing level of hostility and danger.

From the moment me and camera operator Lucia arrived on scene in Golders Green, we were surrounded.

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Not by hostile crowds, but by curious and bemused locals, drawn by the huge media response to what was a sickening attack.

Of all the targets, a voluntary ambulance service, that provides medical care to all sectors of the local population, not just the Jewish community, seemed grotesque.

It was a cynical act, designed to capture public attention, with not a moment's thought for the impact on the wider community and the risk to those nearby from exploding oxygen cylinders.

I was moved by the number of local people who came to speak to us, to tell me how they value the work GB News does in highlighting the dangers faced by their community.

Person after person told me of how proudly British they are - a patriotism that could put many other communities to shame.

And yet, their Jewish faith has left them exposed, facing increasing levels of danger that should shame us all.

For centuries, Jewish communities across the globe have faced antisemitism.

But we're now in a new and deeply disturbing era, where sections of our community seem determined to link Jews here to events thousands of miles away.

Much of the blame lies with those relatively recent immigrants from areas like the Middle East, who carry with them generations of hatred towards Israel, and seem incapable, or unwilling to separate that from the wider Jewish community.

Ever since the October 7 terror attack in Israel, we've seen almost weekly protests where many of those Jew haters have been ably supported by the useful idiots who chant along with the "River to the Sea" and "Globalise the Intifada" with no real understanding of what they really stand for.

Or perhaps they do, which is so much worse.

As one local woman said to me in Golders Green on Monday, this is what "Globalise the Intifada" means in reality - a firebomb attack in London, the murder of worshippers at a synagogue in Manchester.

She told me of how her sister had been on a kibbutz in Israel, and was caught up in the attack on October 7.

She had worried ever since about her safety in a country which regularly comes under missile, drone and rocket attack.

But now she says, her sister is telephoning her, worried about her safety in London.

Late in the afternoon, as I was preparing for my ninth live report of the day, a local man wanted to chat.

Again, he thanked GB News for its honesty in reporting the breakdown in social cohesion in communities like his.

He told me his family had been in this part of north west London for hundreds of years.

His grandfather was a proud sailor in the Royal Navy during the Second World War.
But he tells me now, he is seriously considering leaving this once beloved city to try to make a new life in Israel.

The fact he feels his family would be safer in such a volatile part of the world, rather than the UK, I find deeply sobering.

It should shame us all, that this small, highly patriotic section of our society should require private security guards to protect them in their everyday lives.

Who else in our country needs those guards to escort their children to and from school, to their places of worship, or to other events most of us take for granted.

It's little wonder lots of locals told me on Monday they were sick of the hollow words from politicians.

Perhaps predictably, a fair few turned up at Golders Green on Monday to tell locals they stood with them.

Although, one man noticeable by his absence was the London mayor.

Sadiq Khan is of course also London's police and crime commissioner.

He tells us regularly about his friends in the Jewish community.

I suspect those friends might have been rather hard to find in Golders Green on Monday.

The community here say words don't cut it anymore.

They need concerted action from those in authority.

They want an end to the regular pro-Palestinian hate marches across the country.
Or at the very least, a much more robust approach from the police to go after those spewing their bile on city streets.

But much of that hatred is so deeply entrenched, I fear it will only be a matter of time before I'm scrambling to respond to the next shocking attack on our Jewish neighbours.