Standing at the end of Highfield Road in Golders Green, Dov Forman surveys the torched aftermath of an arson attack which has shattered the close-knit Jewish community in north west London.
The spot is directly opposite where his late great-grandmother and Holocaust survivor Lily Ebert lived after moving to London to rebuild her life after the Second World War.
“I’m actually glad that she’s no longer alive to have seen this,” the 22-year-old author and campaigner tells The Independent.
“She would have been completely devastated because it would have completely shattered the thought that the UK was a safe place for her and her family to live.”
The attack took place after four ambulances were set alight in the car park of Machzikei Hadath synagogue early on Monday morning. Police are investigating the incident as an antisemitic hate crime.
It happened at 1.45am after three masked men walked up to the vehicles, which belonged to the Jewish volunteer service Hatzola, and torched them.
There were no reported injuries. But it triggered a series of explosions, caused by oxygen canisters onboard the ambulances, which echoed through the residential area, blowing out windows and shaking homes.
The location of the attack struck the community at its heart. The charity was established in 1979 and, since then, has provided free medical transportation and emergency response to those living in the area.
Jewish community leaders have condemned the attack, with the Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis saying the targeting of the volunteer service was “particularly sickening”.
London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan said it was a “cowardly attack on the Jewish community” while Sir Keir Starmer the incident “horrific”.
At the scene on Monday, Jewish people described how they were now living in fear following the incident with many saying they were thinking about leaving the country for their own safety.
Mr Forman said many of his friends have already concluded that modern Britain is no longer safe for his community.
“Many will feel they can’t be visibly Jewish in certain pockets of London and across the country,” he said. “That is a conversation that we need to have… we can’t shy away from that.”
“I think we’re seeing the levels of antisemitism that many would have experienced decades ago, that many in this country thought would never be possible (again),” he said.
Caroline Levey, 62, lives opposite where the incident occurred. She was awoken by the first blast and went out to see what went on, believing it to be an accident on the busy Golders Green Road.
“I went right up to the cordon. I don’t know why I went. And then oh God (she saw and heard the next bang). And that was, that was it. I legged it home,” she said.
Golders Green has been Ms Levey’s home for 61 years and she feels encouraged to be part of a tightly-knit Jewish community in the area. However, she would now leave the UK if she had the money, due to a rise in antisemitic incidents.
She says: “This is the first time in over 60 years that I have experienced such a terrible, almost life-endangering incident.
“I haven’t slept since, I haven’t slept since 1:45 this morning and I’ve tried to. I just can’t get it out of my head.”
“If I could afford to pack up and go, I would go tomorrow.”
Damon Hoff, president of the Machzike Hadath Synagogue, was among those who woke up the sound of explosions. He describes the incident as an “attack on anything decent”, telling The Independent: “This is the deepest heart of the Jewish community, and it’s an unbelievable vulnerability because it’s your way of life and it’s an attack on everything that you stand for.”
Historical stained glass windows at the synagogue had been damaged by the fire, as well as smoke damage to the roof of the building, he says.
Mr Hoff no longer feels safe wearing his kippah (skull cap) when walking in the West End.
Peter Zinkin, a Conservative councillor for Golders Green, describes the feeling in his community as: “distress, anger and upset.”
“What I feel about it is deep upset”, he tells The Independent. “With all of the attacks on the community over the last few years, it isn’t in one sense a surprise that this has happened.
“It’s just a deep sadness, and deep sadness leads to upset. But the important question is why did it happen?
Fellow councillor Dean Cohen said: “It is a despicable act, not only to attack the Jewish community, but to attack ambulances, ambulances that are there to save lives day in, day out, 24/7, is a new low.”
Rather than leaving, Mr Forman believes the Jewish community in north London must now rally together and take a united stand against such incidents.
“We’ve got through this in every generation, and we will stay together, strong, and ultimately we are stronger together, and we know that”, he says.
“No one else is going to fight this fight for us against antisemitism. We will do it ourselves.”
The Metropolitan Police’s detective chief superintendent Luke Williams said there have been no arrests and the investigation is being lead by counter-terror officers.
