Netherlands: Explosion outside Jewish school in Amsterdam leaves no injuries amid 'epidemic of antisemitism'

An explosion overnight Friday hit the outer wall of a Jewish school in Amsterdam, leaving no injuries, the mayor of the Dutch capital, Femke Halsema, said Saturday.

Police, who have launched an investigation, have video surveillance footage in which a man can be seen placing the explosive device, Halsema said in a statement quoted by AFP.

"Police and firefighters rushed to the scene," in the Buitenveldert neighborhood in southern Amsterdam, and "material damage is limited," he said. Amsterdam's Jews are "increasingly confronted with antisemitism, and that is unacceptable," Mayor Femke Halsema said, condemning the explosion as a "cowardly act of aggression."

Nighttime attacks on synagogues in Europe

This episode resembles others that occurred this week, also during the night, in front of synagogues in Belgium and in The Netherlands.

On Friday, following an explosion outside a synagogue in Rotterdam, Dutch authorities reported the arrest of four young men.

"It's terrible. Antisemitism has no place in the Netherlands," the head of the Dutch government, Rob Jetten, said on the X social network.

In Belgium on Monday, an explosion rocked a synagogue in Liege, causing material damage but leaving no injuries. The investigation was left in the hands of the Belgian Federal Prosecutor's Office, responsible for terrorism-related cases, which 48 hours later said it was analyzing a video, possibly recorded by jihadists, claiming responsibility for the attack.

Israel denounces a "epidemic of antisemitism"

The Israeli Foreign Ministry denounced "an antisemitism epidemic is raging" in the Netherlands. "Where will the next attack be?" it asks in a statement published on X in which it considers that "the Dutch government needs to do much more to fight antisemitism."

This string of incidents occurs in a context marked by the conflict in Middle East, where Israel maintains a direct confrontation with the Iranian regime and its allies in the region.

The international tension stemming from this dispute has increased sensitivity around acts of antisemitism and generated concern among European Jewish communities, which fear an increase in attacks linked to the current geopolitical climate.