A 19-year-old is charged over a Nazi salute outside a Croxdale Road synagogue in May and appears in court on 16 October. Patrols step up to Yom Kippur.

A man has been charged after a Nazi salute was reported outside a Borehamwood synagogue in May. Hertfordshire Constabulary published the charge at 4.20pm on Thursday 10 September.

The force says Kamil Mach, aged 19, of Holywell Road, Watford, will appear at St Albans Magistrates’ Court on Friday 16 October. He is charged with a racially or religiously aggravated Section 5 public order offence.

The incident happened as worshippers were leaving the synagogue in Croxdale Road on Saturday 9 May. He was arrested on Friday 22 May and given bail conditions not to attend any synagogue in England and not to attend Croxdale Road. Those conditions are unchanged ahead of the hearing.

A charge is an allegation. The case has not been heard and nothing about it has been decided.

Inspector Rachael Robertson, of the Hertsmere Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: “Antisemitism has no place here in Hertsmere or the wider county. We want all communities to feel safe and incidents like this will always be taken extremely seriously.”

Patrols are stepped up for the next three weeks

The charge landed the day before the Jewish High Holy Days began. Rosh Hashanah started at sunset on Friday 11 September, and that morning the force said it was putting more officers on the ground at key locations and synagogues across the county for the duration.

Assistant Chief Constable Jon Simpson said a combination of uniformed, plain-clothes and armed patrols would be stepped up across the period. He said officers are in continuous talks with local Jewish community leaders so patrols are targeted in the right places, and that the force is working with the Community Security Trust, the charity that provides security for British Jewish communities.

“We know the Jewish community are feeling vulnerable and we are taking our commitment seriously,” he said.

Why Hertsmere, specifically

This is not a story that happens to be in Borehamwood. Hertsmere is the most Jewish local authority area in the country.

At the 2021 census, 18,346 of the borough’s 107,826 residents recorded their religion as Jewish. That is 17.0%, the highest proportion of any local authority in England and Wales. Barnet, next door, is second on 14.5%. Nowhere else in England and Wales is above 7%.

The incident figures follow the same shape. The Community Security Trust recorded 3,700 antisemitic incidents across the UK in 2025, a 4% rise on the 3,556 logged in 2024 and the second highest annual total it has ever reported. Outside Greater London and Greater Manchester, which between them account for 61% of the national figure, Hertfordshire recorded 126 incidents, more than any police area in the country bar West Yorkshire’s 131.

The extra money the force refers to was announced by the Home Office on 13 July 2026. It is £251 million over three years, of which about £43 million goes to seven force areas with significant Jewish populations. Hertfordshire is one of the seven, alongside Essex, Northumbria, Sussex, Thames Valley, the West Midlands and West Yorkshire. The Home Office did not publish a figure for each force.

The dates that matter

The Community Security Trust’s own threat assessment for this year’s High Holy Days sets out the timetable the patrols are built around. It runs to 4 October.

Table of the Jewish High Holy Days 2026: Rosh Hashanah sunset 11 September to nightfall 13 September; Yom Kippur sunset 20 September to nightfall 21 September; Succot first two days sunset 25 September to nightfall 27 September; Chol Hamoed Succot 28 September to 2 October; Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah sunset 2 October to nightfall 4 October.
The festivals begin at sunset and end at nightfall. Yom Kippur is the busiest.
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CST describes Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur as the busiest days of the year for synagogue attendance, and singles out the Kol Nidrei service on the evening of Sunday 20 September as typically one of the most heavily attended in the UK. It notes that arrival and dispersal from services are the periods of greatest exposure, because that is when large numbers of people are walking to and from synagogues, often in family groups.

The assessment, dated 27 July, calls this one of the most acute High Holy Days threat environments in recent years. It points to the UK terrorism threat level having been raised to SEVERE, meaning an attack is highly likely, and to the first anniversary of the Heaton Park Synagogue attack in Manchester falling on Friday 2 October, the day Shemini Atzeret begins.

What it means for you

  • Expect to see more officers around synagogues and kosher shops until 4 October. The force says the mix includes plain-clothes and armed patrols, so not everything you see will look like a patrol.
  • If something is worrying you, speak to a patrolling officer. ACC Simpson’s statement asks people to do exactly that rather than wait.
  • Report suspicious behaviour near a Jewish site. CST lists loitering, filming and photographing near synagogues, kosher shops and communal buildings as the things to flag, before as well as during the festivals.
  • For non-emergencies, the force points to reporting online, its web chat, or 101. Crimestoppers takes anonymous reports on 0800 555 111.
  • Kosher shops and communal areas get busier in the days before each festival, which CST says creates a predictable pattern worth being aware of.
  • A delayed report is normal here. Observant Jews do not use phones or write during Sabbath and festivals, so non-emergency incidents are often reported once the festival ends. CST is clear that in a life-threatening situation those rules are broken to preserve life.

Sources