Megan Specia stood in Golders Green on Wednesday as the cold London rain washed the pavement. Two British Jewish men had just been stabbed. Nearby, yellow forensic tape fluttered against a backdrop of brick storefronts. This neighborhood is the heart of a vibrant community. Now it is a scene of fear. A shadowy group calling itself Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiyya claimed the act. They posted a video to Telegram shortly after the blood was spilled.

This group is not new to the dark arts of arson. In March, they targeted four Hatzalah ambulances. The charred remains of those vehicles serve as a grim monument. Last Friday, attackers placed bottles of accelerant against the Finchley Reform Synagogue. They threw a brick at the firebomb. In Antwerp and Brussels, similar threats have emerged. This is a coordinated assault on the peace of our neighborhoods. It is an attack on the right to worship without terror.

“The British government Thursday called antisemitism in the U.K. an ‘emergency’,” according to official reports. Leaders have pledged millions to secure Jewish sites. But money cannot buy back the sense of safety. A sacred space should be a refuge. Today, it is a target. Our leaders must ask why these lone wolves feel emboldened. They must look at the roots of this hate. Criminal acts are now the latest tools of asymmetrical warfare.

Investigators are looking for ties to Iran. They suspect these low-cost methods are meant to sow deep fear. This is the work of those who hate order. It is the work of those who despise the neighbor. We must not allow the shadow of the Middle East to darken our streets. Every family deserves a walk to the synagogue in peace. Every child deserves to see an ambulance as a sign of help, not a target for fire.

We are living through a coarsening of public life. When the sick and the faithful are targeted, the moral floor has collapsed. We must stand with the residents of Golders Green. We must protect the parish and the temple. Without these local bonds, the nation is nothing but a map. True security begins at the doorstep of the sanctuary. It ends when we allow terror to become ordinary.