Mike Freer has said he fears for his life while working as an MP following a suspected arson attack on his parliamentary office in north London.
Police officers and firefighters were called to the blaze at Mr Freer’s constituency office in Ballards Lane, Finchley, around 7pm on Christmas Eve.
The fire is understood to have started in a shed behind the building.
It destroyed the shed and part of the first, second and third floors of the property, which is also former constituency office of ex-Tory leader Margaret Thatcher.
Mr Freer - who is not Jewish but whose Finchley and Golders Green constituency is home to a large Jewish community - has raised the possibility of the suspected attack being related to his pro-Israel stance.
“I think obviously because I have such strong views on the Middle East, and I’m pro-Israel, this has led me to become a target,” the Conservative MP told the Jewish Chronicle.
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He added he “won’t be deterred” from supporting Israel.
“Anyone who wants to silence somebody shouldn’t be allowed to win,” he said.
He spoke of fears he experiences while carrying out his job, telling the Jewish Chronicle he is "always worried" about whether he will "come home each night".
He told the newspaper his husband picks him up when he gets off the Tube each evening, as "he doesn't like [Mr Freer] walking home alone".
He told the Jewish Chronicle he has received a barrage of abuse, including an email on Tuesday that reportedly said he was "the kind of person who deserved to become a target".
There have been two deadly attacks on serving MPs in recent years: the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox by a white supremacist in 2016, and the murder of Sir David Amess in October 2021, by an Islamist terrorist.
It later emerged Sir David's killer, Islamic State fanatic Ali Harbi Ali, had had Mr Freer's Finchley and Golders Green constituency office under surveillance as he plotted a murderous attack on an MP in revenge for bombing in Syria.
Mr Freer was due to meet constituents on a day Ali was loitering nearby but had to cancel the public meet-and-greet at the last-minute.
Ali went on to stab Sir David Amess to death at a church office in Leigh on Sea in Essex after the killer had posed as a constituent to secure a face-to-face meeting.
Mr Freer has since worn a stab vest and carried a panic alarm to tackle the terrorist threat he now fears.
Mr Freer says there has been a "fairly significant security upgrade" at both his home and his office since the Christmas Eve attack, and he says he is in touch with the Parliament security team, while his staff are temporarily working from Westminster.
A police car with two officers was reportedly stationed outside Mr Freer's office on Wednesday night, apparently guarding the premises.Saturday's arson attack follows a huge rise in antisemitic attacks in the UK, including incidents reported in the Golders Green area.
On December 13, Jewish security charity CST said in the 68 days since Hamas launched its attack on Israel, sparking nearly relentless retaliatory bombing on the Gaza Strip, there had been at least 2,093 antisemitic incidents reported across the UK.
This marked a 534 per cent rise in anti-Jewish hate acts compared to the same period last year, which saw 330 such incidents recorded by CST.
Mr Freer praised the "remarkable resilience" his Jewish constituents have demonstrated in the face of the rising attacks, despite being "more scared than they're ever been before".
“Antisemitism is the oldest hatred in the world, and Finchley and Golders Green tends to be a target," he told the Jewish Chronicle.
He told the Jewish Chronicle that he sometimes feels his job as an MP "isn't worth the grief", but is determined not to let threats keep him from his work.
"We take the rough with the smooth,” he said.
“We’ll have a [security] review, but at the end of the day I want to be accessible. I want people to be able to stop me in the street."No 10 said the suspected arson attack at Mr Freer's office is “clearly concerning", No 10 said.
A spokeswoman for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said she could not comment on whether the attack was motivated by antisemitism but said it is “critical” that MPs can carry out their work “without fear”.The Met Police has been approached by the Standard for a comment.
