Police investigating a violent antisemitic assault in north London have released CCTV images of the two suspected attackers who allegedly shouted “kill the Jews” before punching a rabbi and shoving him to the ground.

They have also challenged concerns in the Jewish community about the speed of the police response to the incident last week, which left the rabbi bruised and traumatised.

The images from Stamford Hill overground station show two young men in black hooded jackets, one wearing dark jeans and light trainers and carrying a rucksack, and the other with light torn jeans and black trainers.

The Metropolitan police are also keen to trace a woman who intervened to stop the attack last Friday night in Amhurst Park.

Shomrim, a Jewish neighbourhood watch group that reported the incident, said the unnamed rabbi was on a visit from Israel for a family wedding when he was attacked.

The police have since verified Shomrim’s account by talking to the 54-year-old victim after he returned home to Israel and then travelled on to the US. He has provided a full account of the assault and the antisemitic verbal abuse to which he was subjected. Police are also speaking to witnesses and are gathering CCTV from the area.

According to Shomrim, the two attackers shouted “fucking Jew, dirty Jew” before striking the rabbi to the ground.

Shomrim’s chairman, Rabbi Herschel Gluck, had accused police of dragging their feet over the incident.

“When something like this happens, which has caused deep distress to the Jewish community, the police should pull out all the stops to deal with it in a suitable manner,” he said. “We hear a lot of very nice talk about being against hate crime and antisemitism but when it comes down to it we don’t see any appropriate action.”

Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn have both condemned the attack. Gluck said Corbyn was the only party leader to have personally called him to express his shock and empathy with the Jewish community.

DS Adam Ghaboos, who is leading the investigation, insisted the Met has been committed to thoroughly investigating the assault since it was reported. He also told the Guardian he had since spoken to Rabbi Gluck to allay his concerns about response of the police, which he said was initially hampered by difficulty in tracking down the victim.

He said the police were first alerted in a 999 call on Friday, which referred only to an assault on a “Jewish man in the street”. Police were told the name of the victim on Saturday evening by Shomrim, before he flew to Israel on Sunday morning. They did not his get victim’s statement until Wednesday.

DS Ghaboos said: “Not being able to get hold of the victim did not mean that the investigation was paused.”

Gluck contrasted the police response to Friday’s incident with the speed in which police arrested a man following a widely shared video last month that showed a Jewish family being subjected to antisemitic abuse on the London Underground.

Ghaboos said: “There is no variance in the urgency with which we treat a hate crime. It is an immediate proportionate response to what is a horrendous crime. It gets the full response every time.”

He added: “We’ve had a meeting with Rabbi Gluck to increase the working between Shomrim and the police locally, to help with the concerns in the Jewish community.

“I went through the timings of when the incident happened: how it was reported to us both over the 999 system and then by Shomrim and the reaction by the police.”

A Met spokeswoman added: “We welcome the concern from the community because it was a shocking incident.”

In a statement, Ghaboos added: “I want to reassure the community that we take offences of this nature extremely serious and are doing what we can to progress this investigation.

“While we carry out a number of inquiries, we are asking for the public’s assistance in identifying two males we would like to speak to in connection with this incident.

He said anyone who may have witnessed the incident or has further information on the identity of the suspect should call 07500 850625 quoting CAD 6332/30Nov.