London, Thanasis Gavos

Britain’s security alert level remains at the third of five levels, it was confirmed at today’s meeting of the Cobra emergency response committee under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

The meeting with the participation of the security officer Minister of the Interior Suella Braverman and heads of intelligence, counter-terrorism and police was held to assess the domestic impact of the conflict in the Middle East.

Speaking after the Downing Street meeting, Ms Braverman said the Joint Threat Assessment Center was maintaining its existing assessment for now.

The security alert level is at “significant”, meaning a terrorist attack is considered “possible”, but not “extremely likely” or “imminent” as the two highest alert levels imply.

The meeting discussed the public safety concerns in Britain caused by the sharp increase in incidents of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia since the outbreak of war in the Middle East.

These concerns have been publicly raised by the heads of MI5, Britain’s Countering Extremism Commission and London’s Metropolitan Police, who have spoken of well-organized Iranian networks on British soil trying to incite tensions with the possibility of activating “lone wolf” terrorists. .

These fraudulent attempts are also believed to be taking place in the context of the last three weeks’ massive pro-Palestine protests in London and other major UK cities.

Referring to her statement on these protests, Suella Braverman said that “we have seen tens of thousands of people take to the streets after the massacre of Jews, the largest loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust, shouting slogans to wipe Israel off the map – in my mind there is only one way to describe these marches: they are marches of hate.”

Incidents of antisemitism in London have increased by 14 times since the beginning of October compared to the same period last year. A tripling has also been recorded in incidents of Islamophobia.

The Cobra committee also discussed security intelligence about Iranian centers operating in Britain with the aim of creating tensions.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverley called on pro-Palestine protesters in the UK to “watch out for misinformation and manipulation” from these centres.