Four men have been arrested by Rotterdam police. Are they the same who perpetrated the explosion at the synagogue in Liège, Belgium ?

More incidents at synagogues in Europe, the U.S. and Canada.

A fire broke out briefly at the entrance to a synagogue in Rotterdam early on Friday, Dutch public broadcaster NOS reported. Police arrested four men (see latest update below). 

According to the police, the fire was started deliberately. No one was injured.

City Mayor Schouten told the ANP news agency that the incident has caused “great anxiety among our Jewish fellow citizens.” “We will continue to closely monitor security around the synagogues.”

The incident occurred at 3:45 a.m. at A.B.N. Davidsplein in Rotterdam-Blijdorp. Footage on social media shows something burning in front of the entrance, followed by an explosion.

The police have seen the images and say they will include them in their investigation. According to the policeit is yet known why the fire was started or by whom. The investigation is still ongoing, it said.

In the meantime, a pro-Iranian jihadist group calling itself ‘’the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right’’  has claimed responsibility for the arson attack.

In recent days, there have been more incidents at synagogues around the world. Earlier this week, there was an explosion in the Belgian city of Liège, also in the middle of the night. The Interior Minister called it a “clearly anti-Semitic attack.” But the terrorist nature is more and more taken into consideration after Belgian federal judicial police said they are in possession of a video showing the explosion outside the building. It is believed to have been sent by the Harakat Ashab al-Kahf group which is part of the network of Iranian-backed Shia militias in Iraq.

The repeated claims raise serious concerns about coordinated network targeting Jewish communities across Europe.

In the U.S. too, someone drove a car into a synagogue in the state of Michigan on Thursday. The perpetrator is an American of Lebanese descent. Sources told CBS News that two of the man’s brothers were killed in Lebanon during an Israeli airstrike.

Israel’s National Security Council has issued security guidelines for Israelis abroad. “Since the start of Operation Roaring Lion, there has been a clear increase in terrorist activities and threats from Iranian security services against Israeli and Jewish targets worldwide,”it said.

The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) has recorded a total of eight incidents at synagogues across the globe, including gunfire at two Toronto area synagogues and the arrests of suspicious individuals near synagogues in Oslo and Trondheim in Norway.

Other antisemitic incidents tracked by CAM this week included:

• United States: Two Jewish men were attacked at a restaurant in San Jose, California, after they were heard speaking Hebrew. The assailants reportedly shouted, “Don’t mess with Iran” and “F*ck the Jews.”
• United States: Reports emerged that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji, “liked” multiple Instagram posts praising the October 7th massacre. Mamandi also hosted notorious anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil for an iftar dinner at Gracie Mansion on Monday.
• United Kingdom: During a soccer match in Norwich, spectators chanted “Dirty Jews,” “Dirty Zionists,” and “Go back to the gas chambers” at students from London’s Jewish Free School (JFS).
• Germany: Authorities disrupted a Hamas-linked effort to plot attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets in Germany and across Europe.

Of the 137 total incidents recorded by the ARC this week, 27 — 20% — were directly motivated by the ongoing Iran war, involving perpetrators driven to act by support of the regime or conspiratorial hatred of Jews and Israel.

”European authorities know that the Iranian regime has long conducted operations on European soil. Governments across the continent have warned about assassination plots and attempted attacks targeting dissidents, journalists and Jewish institutions. In Sweden authorities recently revealed that individuals linked to Iranian intelligence services are suspected of planning the murder of Jewish representatives,” said David Lega, Secretary General of the European Jewish Association (EJA).

”These are not isolated incidents. They are part of a method,” he told EJP. ”When the regime in Tehran feels pressure it does not retreat. It escalates. A regime struggling to maintain its grip on power destabilises countries across the Middle East while activating networks and operatives in Europe.”

Latest updateon the Rotterdam arson attack :

Police in Rotterdam have arrested four men suspected of carrying out the arson attack on the NIG Rotterdam synagogue, Jonet.nl reported. The suspects were apprehended near another synagogue in Rotterdam, according to police as reported by daily De Telegraaf.

After the suspected perpetrators detonated an explosive device around 3:45 a.m., they fled the scene. Police immediately monitored the surrounding area and other Jewish institutions via surveillance cameras, where they saw a vehicle swerving erratically in the footage. This occurred near another synagogue in the city. Officers in the area decided to pull the car over.

At that point, a description was already available of one of the perpetrators of the attack at the NIG synagogue. The driver of the vehicle matched that description. The police therefore arrested the four men. They are two men aged nineteen, eighteen, and seventeen. It is unclear what kind of license plate the car had: a Dutch or foreign one.

The police are conducting a major investigation. Consequently, a Major Investigation Team (TGO) has been established. This means that a substantial team of detectives is working on this case.

Belgian link

The video that the suspected perpetrators posted on social media bears a striking resemblance to that of the perpetrators of the attack on the synagogue in Liège last Monday. They are still at large, and the Belgian police are investigating. It is possible that they crossed the border into the Netherlands (Liège is close to the border) to continue their terrorist activities and that they are the young men who have now been apprehended in Rotterdam.

The new Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten was due to hold a press conference on the matter Friday afternoon.