“It was a deliberate attack against the Jewish community.”
An explosion has damaged a Jewish school in Amsterdam, according to Dutch officials.
Femke Halsema, the city’s mayor, claimed she believed the explosion was a “deliberate attack against the Jewish community”.
The incident occurred early on Saturday, March 14. Damage to the school, located in an affluent residential neighbourhood on the south side of Amsterdam, is understood to be limited.
No injuries have been reported, but police are investigating camera footage that appears to show the person who detonated the explosive.
“This is a cowardly act of aggression against the Jewish community,” Ms Halsema said.
“Jewish people in Amsterdam are increasingly confronted with antisemitism. This is unacceptable,” per Sky News.
Security at Jewish schools and institutions, already tight, has been further strengthened following recent attacks on synagogues in Rotterdam and in Liege, Belgium.
There was also an attack on a synagogue in West Bloomfield, near Detroit, Michigan, on Thursday, where a Lebanese-born US citizen allegedly drove his car into the building.
According to authorities, the attacker, who was armed with a rifle, was fatally shot at Temple Israel.
Fortunately, none of the synagogue’s staff, teachers or the 140 children at its early childhood centre were injured.
Federal investigators believe the incident in Michigan was also an act of violence targeting the Jewish community.
Concerns about possible attacks on Jewish communities worldwide have risen after joint US–Israeli airstrikes on Iran and Tehran’s subsequent military retaliation.
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