An explosion damaged a Jewish school in Amsterdam early on Saturday, causing no injuries, in what the city’s mayor described as a deliberate attack against the Jewish community, Dutch news agency ANP reported.
The explosion at the school in an upscale residential neighborhood on Amsterdam’s south side caused only limited damage, Mayor Femke Halsema said in a press release, as police and firefighters arrived quickly at the scene.
“This is a cowardly act of aggression against the Jewish community,” Halsema said.
“Jewish people in Amsterdam are increasingly confronted with antisemitism. This is unacceptable.”
Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten called the attack in Amsterdam “horrible” and said it understandably caused “fear and anger” in the Jewish community.
“The safety of Jewish institutions has our full attention,” he said in a post on X.
Four arrested after explosion at Rotterdam synagogue
Security at synagogues and Jewish institutions in the Dutch capital had already been heightened ahead of the attack, as the bombing was the second attack against a Jewish target in the Netherlands in recent days.
It comes after an explosive device detonated at a synagogue in the center of Rotterdam on Thursday, also causing no injuries.
Four suspects in Thursday’s bombing were apprehended later that day when police stopped a car that was driving suspiciously close to another synagogue.
A new Shi’ite terror group, calling itself Ashab Al Yamim (People of the Right Hand), claimed responsibility for the attack.
In neighboring Belgium, an explosion caused a fire at a synagogue in Liege on Monday.
Also last week, a synagogue in Michigan was targeted during a vehicle-ramming incident involving an active shooter who reportedly killed himself in his burning car. Additionally, several synagogues in Canada have also faced attacks, including targeted shootings, over the past month.