St John’s Ambulance support Hatzola. Two arrests made.

I’m not a great lover of the algoryrhythms that follow me on t’ interweb. But this morning it really did pick up something of interest that I might not otherwise have spotted – a Facebook post from the St John Ambulance organisation suporting their friends and colleagues at Hatzola and deploring the arson terror attack on 4 of their ambulances this week.
For easy reference I copied the post and a couple of pertinent comments.

I mentioned when reporting the fire that Hatzola work in much the same way as St John; these comments show a little more detail the mutual support.

Idiot jokes like ‘If I dial 999 do they ask if I want a Jew or a Goy ambulance?’ (I won’t repeat the punch line; it was nasty) are wrong and uncalled for.  But such is the animosity around the issue I have blacked out the personal names.  Although they were on a public forum.

More about St John’s here – they are present throughout the Commonwealth, except Scotland who have St Andrew First Aid. The foundation was Christian but members can be any faith or none, and everybody is helped.

Support has also come from the King who has become a Patron of the Community Security Trust since the arson attack. Jewish News has the story.

It was the best “good news” an anxious Jewish community could have hoped for: King Charles has agreed to become patron of the Community Security Trust.

Lord Finkelstein, a trustee of the CST, delivered the King’s decision to a rapturous 1200-strong crowd at the charity’s annual dinner, its timing all the more perfect for a community still coming to terms with that morning’s vicious firebombing of four Hatzola ambulances in Golders Green.

…the mood running through the evening’s event was one of determination and defiance. Lord Finkelstein set the tone when he declared: “We are going to stay strong because we have each other — and we have allies.” Not only, he said, did the community welcome keynote speaker, the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, “with an open heart and open arms”, but “our greatest ally” was the King.

His Majesty’s acceptance of the invitation to become patron of the CST sent a clear message, Lord Finkelstein said. “We are not just Jews, we are British Jews. We stay strong and we stay here. We have seen worse, and we have come through it.”

Further two arrests have been made of potential suspects for the attack. This is the Telegraph

Two men arrested over an anti-Semitic firebomb attack in north London are British nationals, police have confirmed.

Four ambulances owned by a Jewish charity were set on fire outside a synagogue in Golders Green in the early hours of Monday.

Counter-terror police are leading an investigation into the arson amid fears it may have been orchestrated by Iran.

The two men, aged 45 and 47, were detained on Wednesday at addresses in north-west and central London on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life. They remain in police custody.

Police are still searching for a third suspect, the head of the policing unit leading the investigation has confirmed.

Helen Flanagan, the head of Counter-Terrorism Policing London, said: “We have been working around the clock since this appalling attack took place and this has led to these arrests being made this morning. This appears to be an important breakthrough in the investigation, but we’re also mindful that CCTV footage of the incident suggests there were at least three people involved.  . .

The two suspects were arrested on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life rather than an offence under the National Security Act, which might cover alleged state-backed plots.

Israeli embassy sources told The Telegraph that the firebombing had the hallmarks of an Iran-backed attack. Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiyya, a new Islamist militant group linked to Iran, appeared to claim responsibility for the arson in an online video. The group, whose Telegram account was only created on Saturday, claimed it is responsible for attacks across Europe in the past 10 days, including explosions outside Jewish sites in Belgium and the Netherlands.

An internal report by the Israeli government, seen by The Telegraph, said the group probably hired local criminals online to carry out the attacks.