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Bath Mayor Quits Over ‘False Flag’ Posts as Police Make Three More Arrests in Golders Green Arson

The backlash highlights how sharing baseless claims about anti-Jewish attacks can swiftly end a political career.

Overview

  • Counterterrorism detectives investigating the Golders Green arson arrested three more people in east London, including two men aged 19 and 20 and a 17-year-old with dual British-Pakistani nationality.
  • Two earlier suspects, British men aged 45 and 47 who were arrested last week on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life, were released on bail until late April.
  • The attack set fire to four ambulances run by Hatzola, a volunteer Jewish community emergency service, and police are treating it as an antisemitic hate crime.
  • Bath’s mayor, Bharat Pankhania, resigned from the mayoralty and the local Liberal Democrat group after he shared posts on X that called the arson a false flag and suggested insurance fraud, and he issued an unreserved apology.
  • An obscure Telegram account calling itself Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya claimed responsibility, though an analysis flagged the statement as likely AI-generated and police said it is too early to link the attack to Iran.