Counter-terrorism police are investigating an online claim by a suspected terror group taking responsibility for the attack on four Jewish community ambulances.

A Telegram post from Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia in which it claims to be behind the arson has circulated online and was shown to the Press Association by a member of the Jewish community at the scene in Golders Green, north-west London.

An unverified video posted at 6.13am on Monday on its Telegram channel showed street view Google Maps images of the ambulances and footage of explosions.

At the start of the video posted on Telegram, a message in English said the group’s primary target was the Machzike Hadath Synagogue due to its links to Israel.

The post also cited Conservative former prime minister Rishi Sunak’s visit to the synagogue during the election campaign in June 2024 to express “his country’s unwavering support for Israel”.

Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, which translates to the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right, is a new terrorism group with suspected links to pro-Iranian networks, according to Israel’s Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism.

The group previously claimed responsibility for several attacks on Jewish sites in Belgium and the Netherlands between March 9 and March 14, according to the Israeli ministry.

They included an explosive attack at a synagogue in Liege, Belgium, an arson attack on a Rotterdam synagogue and an explosive device set off at a Jewish school in Amsterdam.

The group’s Telegram channel, which was apparently only created on Saturday, also includes a video of an attack in Amsterdam targeting an American bank.

Harakat Ashab al-Yamin was also suspected to be linked to an attack at a Jewish site in Greece, according to the Israeli diaspora ministry.

Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted on X on March 15 that “a jihadi group tied to an Iranian proxy” was responsible for the attacks.

It said “the IRGC continues to sponsor and export terror across the globe”.

Earlier in March, the Israeli diaspora ministry released a report which said the attacks appear to be part of intimidation and psychological warfare against Jewish communities in Europe.

Diaspora affairs and combating antisemitism minister Amichai Chikli was quoted by The Times of Israel and others as saying: “The recent events in Europe are not isolated incidents but part of a disturbing pattern of action: Terrorist networks affiliated with the Iranian axis are trying to expand their arena of operation into the cities and Jewish communities of Europe.”

The report also said that the group operates through local cells or individuals who are directed from abroad.

It highlighted that the organisation’s name is similar to one used by the Iraqi militia Harakat Ansar Allah al-Awfiya, which was described as a terrorist organisation by the US State Department.

The group’s logo also closely resembles the symbols used by Iranian-aligned militant groups, according to The Times of Israel.

Metropolitan Police Detective Chief Superintendent Luke Williams said: “We are aware of an online claim from a group taking responsibility for this attack.

“Establishing the authenticity and accuracy of this claim will be a priority for the investigation team but it is not something we can confirm at this point.”

Solidarity costs nothing but can mean everything. Against the snarling packs of extremists flanking both sides of a hostile debate, the significance of maintaining a common bond with those from a different group but facing prejudice is precious. In these times, it’s sometimes all we have.

Last night, an exhibition was held at the Jewish Community Centre in Finchley Road to honour Holocaust Memorial Day. There was music and food and stories. There was a sombre but hopeful tone to the evening. The atrocities inflicted upon Jews in Europe are a stain on the continent’s soul and a memory that can and must never be forgotten. Millions were murdered for the world to learn the need for human rights and fair treatment of minorities. Unfortunately, we live in a time of increased polarisation where hate and bigotry are once again being fanned by those too irresponsible with their positions of power and influence. Even the Holocaust is whitewashed as a crime against humanity rather than an atrocity that focused primarily on Jews.

The Jewish community is again being assailed by hate crime. Across any society, find how they treat women, gays and Jews, and you get a rough idea of how they are as a nation. And unfortunately, in Britain, hate and intolerance of Jews has never completely dissolved and is once again climbing. A combination of Islamist rhetoric and far-left populism has made Jews the “Other” for which all the ills and wrongs of society are placed upon.

Which is why last night’s exhibition was fundamental to the construction of interfaith tolerance and community cohesion. It celebrated the solidarity that existed when Muslims saved as many Jews as they could from persecution during the Holocaust. The stories were spread across Europe but articulated different families selflessly and courageously risking their safeties to protect Jews.

And it was made all the more special after a mosque in Golders Green had been pressured by extremists into not holding the exhibition. It was a sore point, a blow for those who believe in a pluralistic and mutualist society in which differences are not seen as irreconcilable. But, as I said before, solidarity costs nothing but can mean everything. Another mosque, in Redbridge, stepped forward and hosted the event.

In the grand scheme of things this can seem like a small story washed away by the relentless tide of news stories on Brexit. But it’s a story of solidarity and attachment to each other beyond the exclusionary and narrow labels of identity. In the time of extremism and racism, these are the stories that we cling onto as hope that the pluralistic society is still achievable and that empathy with others is a virtuous feature of human behaviour. There was something saddening in visiting the Jewish Community Centre, a beautiful family-orientated institution, and realising they needed security because they weren’t safe. No people should ever have to apologise for who they were. But I was also heartened by the exhibition, reassured by the possibility that a future of coexistence with different groups is still something people yearn for. The attachment to a community is the transcendent feeling that can bring people together, whatever their faiths. This exhibition was about Muslims who saved Jews from persecution. But it can mean so much about where we want to go forward as a society.