King Charles becomes patron of Jewish charity after anti-Semitic arson attack on ambulances
King Charles has become patron of the Community Security Trust (CST), the charity which monitors antisemitism and provides protection for Jewish communities in the UK.
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The King's patronage was announced by Conservative peer Lord Finkelstein at the start of the charity's annual fundraising dinner on Monday evening.
The CST said the King had accepted the invitation, "highlighting His Majesty's long-standing support for the UK's Jewish community and the wider fight against antisemitism".
It added that the monarch's "long-standing commitment to promoting tolerance, inclusion and interfaith understanding aligns closely with CST's mission to protect British Jews".
Buckingham Palace confirmed the King's patronage.
Mark Gardner, Chief Executive of the Community Security Trust, told LBC's Breakfast with Nick Ferrari: "It's my absolute pleasure to say to everyone, and especially to our Jewish community, which feels somewhat isolated and beleaguered at the moment, that the King agreed to be patron of CST.
"That was announced last night. I think that's a very, very welcome boost to the morale and most importantly, the sense of belonging.
"Because we are British. I know we always talk about this, you know: "You're Jewish, you're Jewish", but we're British first and foremost."
Read more: Jewish ambulance service 'staked out' before hate crime arson attack
More than 200 extra officers will be deployed to protect Jewish communities in the wake of the arson attack on four charity ambulances, the head of UK counter-terrorism policing has said.
Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor said that the Met will also use specialist teams including firearms, the mounted branch and drones in the run up to Passover.
Speaking outside New Scotland Yard on Tuesday, he said: "It was an absolutely horrendous attack on the Jewish community.
"The Jewish community have put up with a lot of these types of incidents over the last few years, and whilst they're very strong and resilient, they are clearly very frightened, and we absolutely understand that, and that's why our counter terrorism officers are now conducting that investigation.
"It's also important to say that we are looking very closely at how we work with the Jewish community, the protective security measures that we're putting in place across the country, but specifically in London, we've added an extra 264 officers to patrolling those Jewish communities.
"They will see visible firearms officers patrolling the streets, as well as using some of our specialist assets, from drones and our mounted branch to keep those communities safe, and in particular, working with Jewish schools, Jewish synagogues, to ensure the protective security measures we've got in place are the best they can be."
Investigators are looking at apparent claims by a group called Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia that it was behind the arson attack in Golders Green in the early hours of Monday.
Mr Taylor said: "That is one of the lines of inquiry that we are progressing.
"We know that online, they have laid claim to a number of incidents across Europe, and so it's obviously very important for us to understand what is behind the attack in Golders Green, and what the motivation of those individuals was.
"But critically, we want to get them into custody as quickly as we can and bring them to justice."
Police and the security services have increasingly seen hostile states including Iran, China and Russia using proxies to carry out subversive activities on UK soil.
"We've seen a very significant increase in our work involved with foreign state activity, particularly around that top three of Iran, Russia and China.
"And in the six months up to December last year, we had a 50% increase in national security act investigations, and that's on the back of a fivefold increase over the last four or five years.
"So it is a significant part of our case load.
"It is something we are acutely aware of, the impact that has on communities across the country, and is something that we are prioritising through our casework and our investigations."
The latest official figures on hate crime recorded by police in England and Wales showed Jewish people had the highest rate of religious hate crimes targeted at them of any faith group.
Two worshippers were killed in a deadly attack on a synagogue in Manchester in October 2025 and, in a separate investigation earlier this month, two men were charged with allegedly spying on Jewish people and locations for Iran.