An explosion occurred overnight at a Jewish school in Amsterdam, which the mayor called a “targeted attack against the Jewish community.”
The explosion hit the exterior wall of a school in Buitenfelderd, considered the city’s modern Jewish district and home to synagogues, religious schools and Jewish restaurants.
The city of Amsterdam said in a statement to CNN that police had obtained an image of the person who allegedly detonated the bomb.
Security in Amsterdam has been stepped up following anti-Semitic incidents in Rotterdam and Liège in neighboring Belgium earlier in the week, the city said in a statement.
“This is a despicable act of aggression against the Jewish community,” said Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema.
Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten said there should be “no room for anti-Semitism” in the Netherlands. “We understand the anger and fear and will immediately consult with the Jewish community. They must always feel safe in our country,” he wrote in a post on X.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said on Saturday that he spoke by phone with Dutch Jewish community leaders after the explosion and expressed Israel’s “solidarity” with Dutch Jews.
The incident appears to be part of recent anti-Semitic violence in Europe amid the ongoing conflict between the United States, Israel, and Iran.
On Friday, an explosion in the port city of Rotterdam, the Netherlands’ second largest city, caused a fire at the entrance to a synagogue.
Four teenage boys have been arrested following an overnight arson attack, Rotterdam police said in a statement.
Police said the fire was caused by an explosive that exploded inside the synagogue. Police said the fire broke out briefly and then burned out on its own, adding that no one was injured.
The four suspects, ages 17, 18 and 19, were arrested near another synagogue after the out-of-control vehicle drew the attention of authorities.
In Belgium, a synagogue in the city of Liege was rocked on Monday by an explosion that the city’s mayor described as an anti-Semitic attack, local media reported.
A synagogue was the target of a car ramming attack in the US state of Michigan on Thursday. Although the motive in the attack remains unclear, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said there was a clear “link” between the Iran war and the latest attack, adding that it was no coincidence that the suspect targeted the Temple Israel synagogue.
