North London terror attack: Jewish first responders describe tackling knifeman

Two Jewish community patrol guards who were first to the scene of a terror attack in north London have described how they pursued and helped detain the knifeman.

The volunteers, from the Shomrim neighbourhood watch group in northwest London, arrived at the scene of the attack in Golders Green within minutes of the double stabbing, which left two men, aged 76 and 34, seriously wounded in hospital.

The attack is the latest in a recent spate of antisemitic attacks suspected to be linked to Iranian proxies or Hezbollah, a proxy of their allies in Lebanon.

Jonathan Elkoubi, 33, and a colleague, Yitzi, in his mid-40s, arrived soon after the knife attack on Highfield Avenue in Barnet at about 11.15am on Wednesday. They pursued the knifeman until police arrived.

Speaking at the police cordon near the scene, Yitzi, who did not want to give his surname, told The Observer how the attacker had run towards him.

“You don’t realise in the moment that you’ve got a family at home who want you to come home. I had to run from the guy a couple of times.

“He was going at everyone around him, including myself. At one point he made eye contact with me and then he came at me with a knife.”

Footage showed a large-set man wearing grey trousers and a navy jacket, with a beige rucksack on his back, stabbing an older Jewish man at a bus stop before chasing and stabbing a second man.

Yitzi said his wife had called to check he was safe and he had told her that he’d kept back.

“I said I was keeping a safe distance – that I wasn’t exactly involved, if you like – and now she’s seen the video and I’m holding his head down. She’s fine, she knows I always put the community first, so in this instance it was exactly the same.”

Police arrived within 15 minutes and Tasered the suspect while the two men helped restrain him. Video footage showed officers then carrying out chest compressions on the 45-year-old man, who was arrested and remains in custody. 

Sir Mark Rowley, the Met police commissioner, was heckled at the scene with calls to resign.

In a statement he said that the suspect has “a history of serious violence and mental health issues and the investigation is ongoing”.

The Shromrim volunteers said there is a growing sense that they are unsafe outside their community and that the knife attack and recent arson attacks had shattered the sense of security in the area.

“We feel afraid. Outside of our community, it’s hard,” said Yitzi, adding that he had considered moving his family to Israel. “Israel is the only place we really feel safe.”

Elkoubi, who described blocking the attacker with his car before helping police detain him, said: “I think I’ve not yet fully recovered from or processed what actually happened.

“He [the attacker] still had the knife on him. It happened to be that I managed to grab his legs and even when he was on the floor he was still very agitated. It took quite a lot of effort to actually get the handcuffs on.”

Rowley appeared beside local MP Sarah Sackman, who was also heckled by the crowd.

He praised the two officers, who were not carrying firearms, for their bravery.

“This was an attack on Londoners and it was an attack on British Jews,” Rowley said.

“Too many Jewish people in this country feel they have to make choices that no Briton should ever have to make, about how they dress, where they go, or how visibly they live their lives. That is completely unacceptable and has gone on for far too long.”

He questioned why there had not been more condemnation of recent attacks on Britain’s Jewish community.

Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis, who also attended the scene, said “words of condemnation are no longer sufficient” and called for “meaningful action”.

Photograph by Kin Cheung/AP