(JTA) — London Mayor Sadiq Khan said he spoke with Israeli officials for advice on how to combat urban terrorism in the wake of terror attacks in London and Manchester.
Khan told the London-based Jewish News that his office and Metropolitan Police counterterrorism officials had spoken with officials in Israel.
“My office has been in contact with not only Tel Aviv but other places as well,” he told the Jewish News in an interview published Tuesday.
In the wake of the conversations, police took new actions, including placing concrete blocks in strategic locations on London Bridge as is done at various sites in Israel.
Khan also said that hate crimes had risen significantly in the wake of the attacks. Police are taking a “zero tolerance” approach to hate crime, he told the news website.
“No hate crime will be regarded as too trivial to report,” he added.
Several hate crimes against Jewish victims have been reported in recent weeks, including an Orthodox Jewish teen who was beat up by minority teens in a public park.
Khan, who is Muslim, spoke Sunday night to about 1,000 guests at the annual Jewish Care dinner in London, where he received sustained applause.
During his speech he pledged to use “all his influence” to try to repair the rift between the Jewish community and the Labour Party, which has been accused of institutional anti-Semitism.
