On Monday, the UK will hold a meeting of the government’s COBRA emergency response committee to discuss the domestic security risk from the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents have surged in the United Kingdom since a deadly rampage by the Hamas group in Israel on October 7 flared retaliatory attacks on Gaza by Israel.
Massive pro-Palestinian protests have been held in London and other major UK cities, while Jewish groups have held vigils for hostages who were taken by the militants.
Higher education minister Robert Halfon told Times Radio, “We have to make sure that British systems are safe and secure from the threat of terrorism as the government always does.”
Britain’s MI5 intelligence agency currently considers the threat to the nation 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.
