Hatzola Ambulance Attack

Meg Hillier Excerpts

Monday 23rd March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Dan Jarvis]

I can absolutely provide the right hon. Gentleman with the assurance that he rightly seeks. I hope he will have seen the responses earlier from the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary, and I hope he understands the seriousness with which the Government take these issues. He is right to challenge us in the way he has, but I give him an absolute assurance of the seriousness with which we take these issues. We will ensure that the police and intelligence agencies have all the resources they need to target those who would seek to cause division and disruption within our Jewish communities. Those communities are precious and valued within our country, and this Government will do everything we can to support them.

[Dame Meg Hillier (Hackney South and Shoreditch) (Lab/Co-op)]

I heard from my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Finchley and Golders Green (Sarah Sackman), who met Hatzola in her constituency, how only half an hour after the attack, volunteers were taking calls to support people. Hatzola does amazing work across Hackney, the borough that I partly represent, supporting Homerton hospital in particular. It is much more than just a nice-to-have; it is an essential part of our health service.

The Minister rightly raises the wider issues. My constituency has a smallish Jewish community, and I have a few constituents who are frightened to leave their homes and whose children are frightened to bring friends home from school, and not just because of what happened today—this was the case prior to that. They are living their life in a diminished form. Can the Minister give us a bit more information about how the cohesion strategy will help to educate adults, as the Bell inquiry will help to change the curriculum in our schools?

[Dan Jarvis]

My hon. Friend is right to raise the importance of the cohesion strategy. I assure her that there is a lot of work on this issue being led by colleagues in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and we are working to ensure that it is joined up with all the different Departments. We completely recognise the concerns and fears that have been expressed by members of the Jewish community, and we are determined to make sure that the response of this Government is necessary and proportionate, given the nature of the threat that they face.