LONDON (Reuters) – Britain will convene a meeting of the government’s COBRA emergency response committee on Monday to discuss the domestic security risk from the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents have surged in Britain since a deadly rampage by Hamas gunmen in Israel on Oct. 7 sparked retaliatory attacks on Gaza. Massive pro-Palestinian demonstrations have been held in London and other major UK cities, while Jewish groups have held vigils for hostages who were taken by the militants.
“We have to make sure that British systems are safe and secure from the threat of terrorism as the government always does,” higher education minister Robert Halfon told Times Radio.
Britain’s MI5 intelligence agency currently regard the threat to the country from terrorism as substantial, meaning an attack is likely.
There are two higher categories of threat level – severe, meaning an attack is highly likely, and critical, meaning an attack is highly likely in the near future.
(Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Kate Holton)
