London: Two Jewish schools close over ‘safety fears | UK News

Two Jewish schools in north London have announced they will close ‘in the interests of the safety of our precious children’.

Ateres Beis Yaakov Primary School in Colindale and Torah Vodaas Primary School in Edgware informed parents the schools would not open now until Monday.

Rabbi Feldman, of Torah Vodaas, told Sky News there was ‘no specific threat to our school’ it was ‘not a decision that has been taken lightly’, in a letter to parents.

Follow our live blog on the Israel-Hamas war here

Rabbi Chaim Pinter, the principal of Yesodey Hatorah School, said they had put ‘certain measures’ in place, including ‘extra patrols’ as well as providing therapists and counsellors to the students.

‘There is worry, people are concerned. People don’t want this to spill over,’ he said.

‘The majority of students live locally, but the students who live out of the local area, they are coming in via taxis rather than public transport.

‘Our priority is the children,’ he added. ‘And the best place, the safest place for a child, is in school.’

Jewish students have been warned by schools to disguise their uniform because of fears of attacks due to the Israel-Hamas war.

Thousands of Israelis and Palestinians have already been killed in the conflict that started on Saturday.

It comes after a leading Jewish charity said it had recorded a 400% rise in anti-Semitic incidents in the past four days.

Elsewhere today, the IDF Chief of Staff admitted Israel had failed to protect its citizens when Hamas attacked.

Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said: ‘The IDF is responsible for defending the country and its citizens, and Saturday morning, in the area around Gaza, we did not live up to it.

‘We will learn, investigate, but now is the time for war.’

Prime minister Rishi Sunak promised £3million to protect schools, synagogues, and other Jewish community buildings today.

This money will go towards additional guards in schools as well as extra security guards across synagogues on Friday nights and Saturday mornings.

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