Deputy Assistant Commissioner Vicki Evans stood before the cameras in London on Saturday to address a pattern of violence that has shattered the peace of the neighborhood. A group calling itself Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia has claimed responsibility for a series of arson attacks targeting synagogues and ambulances across the city. The most recent incident occurred in north London, where a sanctuary was damaged by a blaze. This follows a more serious attack in the Golders Green neighborhood on March 23, where four ambulances belonging to a Jewish charity were reduced to charred metal frames.

Police have deployed extra uniformed and plainclothes officers to northwest London, as investigators consider whether these attacks are being directed by the Iranian regime. Security experts suggest the group’s name may be a "flag of convenience" used to mask the hand of foreign state actors. While the fires have caused no injuries thus far, they have succeeded in planting a seed of fear in a community that has long been a model of civic order. The physical evidence of the attacks—the smell of smoke lingering in the morning air and the yellow tape of a crime scene—serves as a grim reminder that foreign conflicts do not stay at the border.

When global tensions are allowed to manifest as arson in our streets, it is the local parish and the local family that suffer. The targeting of ambulances—vehicles dedicated to the preservation of life—reveals a particular depravity that should be condemned by all people of goodwill. We must not allow the shadow of the Strait of Hormuz to fall over the quiet streets of London. The defense of our neighborhoods begins with the firm rejection of the idea that religious institutions are legitimate targets for political grievance.