The Israeli Foreign Ministry on Saturday called on the Netherlands to do “much more to fight antisemitism” after pro-Iranian terrorists claimed responsibility for attacks targeting two Jewish institutions over the weekend.

“In the Netherlands, an antisemitism epidemic is raging,” the ministry said on X. “We saw its scope in the pogrom against Israelis in Amsterdam in November 2024. In the attack on the synagogue in Rotterdam two days ago. In the attack on a Jewish school in Amsterdam yesterday.

“Where will the next attack be? The Dutch government needs to do much more to fight antisemitism,” the ministry’s statement added.

An explosive device damaged the outer wall of a Haredi Jewish school in Amsterdam in a targeted attack on the Jewish community overnight on Friday, Femke Halsema, the Dutch capital’s mayor, said on Saturday.

“Police and firefighters managed to arrive quickly at the scene, and the material damage remained limited,” Halsema said. “There are security camera images of the person who ignited the explosive, and the police investigation is ongoing, as led by the Public Prosecution Service.”

On Friday, Dutch police arrested four teenagers after a similar explosion started a fire at a synagogue in the port city of Rotterdam early that day.

The teenagers, who are between the ages of 17 and 19, were detained after police stopped a suspicious vehicle outside another synagogue.

The Islamist movement Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiyyah (Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right), a pro-Iran jihadist group, claimed responsibility for both attacks, according to Joe Truzman, a senior researcher at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten, who assumed office on Feb. 23 and leads a centrist minority government, said on Saturday that he would “soon engage in dialogue with the Jewish community.”

Denouncing the repeated terrorist attacks as “horrible” on X, Jetten said he understood the “anger and fear” from Dutch Jewish community leaders.

“In the Netherlands, there must be no place for antisemitism,” he tweeted, adding that Jews “must always feel safe in our country.”

Justice and Security Minister David van Weel tweeted that “thanks to measures and alertness, greater damage has been prevented.” He added, “The safety of Jewish institutions has our full attention.”

Geert Wilders—who leads the opposition Party for Freedom and formed the government that served until last month but currently only holds 19 seats in the 150-seat parliament—charged that Jetten, Halsema and police would “rather join [Ramadan] iftars than fight anti-Jewish hatred.”

“Antisemitism is growing every day. Unacceptable. Action is needed,” he tweeted.

In 2024, the Center for Information and Documentation on Israel (CIDI), a leading Dutch Jewish community group, recorded 421 antisemitic incidents, a record tally.

The Hague’s coordinator for combating antisemitism, Eddo Verdoner, called the reality reflected in the data “shameful,” saying Jew-hatred is becoming openly tolerated and perpetrators are no longer ashamed.

Several violent incidents included in CIDI’s annual report happened on Nov. 7-8, 2024, when hundreds of Muslim immigrants participated in a series of attacks on Israelis who were visiting Amsterdam for a soccer match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and the local AFC Ajax team.

In coordinating the violent attacks on messaging platforms and online, several of the perpetrators referred to the action as a “Jew hunt” and used antisemitic rhetoric.

Source: JNS