March 29, 2025, Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands: A pro-Palestinian demonstrator burns a hand-fashioned Israeli flag. Photo: James Petermeier/ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters Connect

A synagogue in Rotterdam, a major port city in the western Netherlands, was briefly set ablaze in a suspected arson attack early Friday — the latest in a wave of violent incidents this month targeting Jewish religious sites across several Western countries.

Local law enforcement has launched an investigation into the attack, confirming that no injuries were reported. Dutch police later said they arrested four young men, aged 17 to 19, on suspicion of setting off an explosion outside the synagogue, which was damaged as a result of the fire, caused by an explosion around 3:40 am. 

The suspects were detained in a car near another synagogue.

“It is not yet clear whether the suspects planned to detonate an explosive or set fire to another synagogue as well,” police said in a statement.

Lawmakers and Jewish organizations swiftly condemned the incident, describing it as an antisemitic attack that reflects a growing climate of hostility, fear, and targeted violence against Jews and Israelis.

Chanan Hertzberger, chairman of the Central Jewish Council — the umbrella organization representing Jewish communities across the Netherlands — said this latest incident signals a troubling escalation in antisemitic acts.

“This is the physical manifestation of antisemitism: after words and threats, actions now follow,” Hertzberger said. “Antisemitism is no longer a fringe phenomenon in the Netherlands — it is manifesting itself increasingly brazenly. Now even right up to the doors of our houses of worship.”

Dutch Justice and Security Minister David van Weel expressed solidarity with the country’s Jewish community, pledging continued protection for Jewish institutions and emphasizing that Jews “must feel safe in the Netherlands.”

“We must not tolerate antisemitism, intimidation, and violence,” van Weel wrote in a post on X.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar also sharply criticized the Dutch government in the wake of the attack, accusing it of failing to prioritize the safety of Jewish communities.

“In Rotterdam, a synagogue was attacked yesterday. But the Netherlands found it more important to intervene in South Africa’s fabricated case against the State of Israel. Shameful!” the Israeli top diplomat posted on social media. He referred to the decision by the Netherlands, along with Iceland, on Thursday to join a case brought by South Africa to the International Court of Justice, the UN’s top court, accusing Israel of committing “state-led genocide” in its defensive war against Hamas in Gaza.

Israeli leaders have condemned the case as an “obscene exploitation” of the Genocide Convention, noting that the Jewish state was targeting terrorists who use civilians as human shields in its military campaign.

Rotterdam Mayor Carola Schouten said authorities will maintain heightened security around synagogues and other Jewish institutions in the city, stressing that police presence will remain in place to reassure the community and deter further attacks.

“We will not tolerate antisemitism, intimidation, violence, or hostility toward religious groups,” Schouten said in a statement.

Eddo Verdoner, the Netherlands’ national coordinator for combating antisemitism, said footage circulating online showing flames at the synagogue’s entrance — though not yet confirmed to depict the actual incident — evokes memories of “dark times in history.”

“It is in the interest of society as a whole that we do everything possible to ensure the Jewish community in the Netherlands can live freely and safely,” Verdoner said. “If this small minority is not safe, it undermines the core values of our democracy.”

According to multiple media reports, an extremist group calling itself “The Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right” has claimed responsibility for the suspected arson attack on the Rotterdam synagogue, which — if confirmed — would mark the third assault on a Jewish institution in Europe this week attributed to the group.

Although no government has formally acknowledged or verified the existence of the group or its claimed operations, the repeated claims have raised concerns about a potentially coordinated network targeting Jewish communities across Europe amid heightened tensions and fears of Iranian retaliation and possible sleeper-cell activity linked to the war in the Middle East.

Friday’s incident comes amid heightened security concerns at Jewish institutions worldwide following the outbreak of war involving the United States, Israel, and Iran on Feb. 28, with at least eight synagogues across North America and Europe attacked so far this month, a period of less than two weeks.

One day before the Rotterdam arson attack, a gunman drove a vehicle into a synagogue near Detroit, Michigan, in what authorities described as a targeted act against the Jewish community.

According to local and federal officials, a Lebanese-born suspect armed with a rifle drove into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township before being shot and killed by security, while staff, teachers, and roughly 140 children inside the synagogue’s early childhood center emerged unharmed.

The same day, Norwegian police arrested one person following an armed operation after a high-speed car chase near the Trondheim synagogue, in an incident that sparked fear and emergency responses across the area.

Last Friday in Canada, a gunman fired through the glass entrance of Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto, a Modern Orthodox synagogue in the Thornhill neighborhood, while two maintenance workers were still inside cleaning up after a Shabbat dinner.

About 30 minutes later, another shooter targeted the Orthodox Shaarei Shomayim congregation in North York, a district just south of Thornhill, opening fire at the synagogue’s entrance.

The incidents came just four days after another attack in Toronto, in which a Jewish-owned restaurant and a local synagogue were also hit by gunfire.

On Monday, a synagogue in Liège, eastern Belgium, was damaged in an explosion that police are investigating as a deliberate attack, with the city’s mayor condemning it as an “extremely violent act of antisemitism.”

Azerbaijan said last Friday it had foiled a series of Iranian terrorist attacks on its territory, including against a synagogue and the Israeli embassy in Baku.

In the last few weeks, synagogues have also been targeted with vandalism or arson in the United States, including New York, Los Angeles, and Miami; and in Canada, including Montreal and Vancouver; as well as in France, Germany, Chile, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Italy, and the Australian cities of Melbourne, Brisbane, and Sydney.

In January, the suspect believed to have intentionally ignited a fire which severely damaged the Beth Israel Congregation synagogue in Jackson, Mississippi told US federal investigators he targeted the institution over its “Jewish ties,” according to an affidavit the FBI submitted to federal court.