Teenager pleads guilty to arson that caused smoke damage at London synagogue
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LONDON (AP) — A teenager pleaded guilty Tuesday to arson in northwest London but said he was unaware that the targeted building was a synagogue and said he bore no ill will toward Jewish people.
The attack was among several separate assaults against Britain’s Jewish community in recent weeks.
The 17-year-old boy, who cannot be identified because of his age, pleaded guilty to arson not endangering life when he appeared before Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
Surveillance footage showed the boy climb over a wall at Kenton United Synagogue, in Harrow, on Saturday night, and set light to a bottle of liquid before throwing it through a broken window. The fire caused some smoke damage and no one was injured.
The boy said he did not know the building was a synagogue and he didn’t intend to harm anyone.
“I have no hate toward the Jewish people,” he said in a written statement. “I am very sorry for my actions.”
The boy was released on bail and ordered to appear at Willesden Youth Court on June 4.
Police arrested and released a 19-year-old man in the investigation and are seeking two other suspects.
There has been a series of arson attacks against synagogues and other Jewish targets in the U.K. since March 23, when four ambulances owned by a Jewish charity that serves people of all faiths in Golders Green, north London, were torched. No one has been injured in any of the incidents.
Police have said they are looking into whether Iran is behind six recent attacks, including one on a Persian-language media organization critical of Iran’s government, as part of a hybrid war fought by proxies amid the U.S.-Israeli war against the Islamic Republic.
Counterterror police said 23 people have been arrested so far. Seven of those were held on suspicion of conspiring to set fire to an unspecified Jewish venue, London’s Metropolitan Police said.
A group calling itself Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia — or Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right — has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks in Britain. It has also admitted being behind incidents in recent months at places of worship, business and financial institutions across Europe, all of which appear to be linked to Jewish or Israeli interests, police said.
Israel has said the recently founded group has suspected links to “an Iranian proxy.”