Man convicted of attempting terrorist attack at London's Israeli embassy

LONDON, May 1 (Reuters) - A man who last year tried to enter Israel's London embassy armed with two knives and carrying a "martyrdom note" was on Friday convicted in a London court of preparing an act of terrorism.

Abdullah Albadri, 34, a failed asylum seeker from Kuwait, attempted to breach the embassy's perimeter in April 2025 because he wanted to send a message about "the killing of children", prosecutors said at his trial this month.

Albadri denied charges of preparing an act of terrorism and possession of two bladed articles, telling police he had the knives because he was homeless, but a jury found him guilty on Friday.

The verdicts came two days after two Jewish men were stabbed in north London in what police described as a suspected terrorist incident, adding to heightened fears within Britain's Jewish community.

Last month, a pro-Iranian group claimed online that it targeted the embassy with drones carrying "dangerous substances". Police later said they found no hazardous substances.

Albadri was arrested by two armed officers as he tried to scale the fence outside the embassy in west London last April. Prosecutors said he later told police he wanted to send a message about stopping the war, a reference to the Israeli-Hamas conflict in Gaza.

"The prosecution say that Mr Albadri's intention was to use or threaten serious violence against the Israeli government, to exact revenge for its alleged murder of children," Catherine Pattison told jurors at the Old Bailey.

Pattison said Albadri had arrived in Britain via a small boat on two occasions and most recently entered the country in April last year, when he applied for asylum, claiming he faced risks in Kuwait as a human rights activist.

However, exchanges on his phone showed his asylum claim was rejected later that month, after which his intention began to shift to "far more sinister matters" and he started searching for the location of the Israeli embassy, Pattison said.

Commander Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, said the Israeli embassy has faced a number of security alerts but police "continuously review and strengthen protective security plans to ensure the site and the wider community is kept as safe as possible".

(Reporting by Michael Holden and Sam Tobin; Editing by Ros Russell)