A few weeks ago in Tel Aviv, on my first days there – before what has now become an extended stay due to the war – I stopped at a small place to grab lunch. I began my order in hesitant Hebrew, thinking I was doing well, but after a moment that exposed my linguistic limitations, the man behind the counter switched to English to ask where I was from. “London,” I said. “Ah,” he replied with a chuckle. “Londonistan.”

With the easy certainty of someone stating a fact, he then told me that London is no longer safe for Jews. I brushed it off at the time. It feels harder to dismiss now.

In the early hours of Monday morning, in Golders Green – long a centre of Jewish life in London – masked attackers set fire to four ambulances belonging to Hatzola, a volunteer emergency service. Oxygen tanks exploded as the vehicles burned, forcing residents from their homes. Police are treating it as an antisemitic hate crime.

These were not symbolic targets. They were ambulances – vehicles used to save lives, staffed by volunteers who respond to medical emergencies day and night. For many in the community, the message was unmistakable: even those who exist solely to help others are no longer off-limits.

Thousands of miles away, in the West Bank, Palestinian communities are facing a different but equally intolerable reality. In recent days, Israeli settlers have reportedly torched homes and cars, attacking........

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