A planned terror attack on a shul in the Netherlands was foiled by the police last week, b’chasdei Hashem. Explosives were found near the building.

On Friday morning, around 1:15 a.m., the police in the town of Heemstede in northern Netherlands, about a 20-minute drive from Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, noticed two teenagers behaving suspiciously. The suspects, teens from Amsterdam, were questioned at the scene and then arrested.

Detectives had been monitoring the building, which houses a Chabad center, partly due to attempted attacks in recent weeks on a shul in Rotterdam and a Jewish school in Amsterdam.

Following reports about the attempted attack, the European Jewish Congress (EJC) issued a statement: “Dutch authorities have foiled a planned attack on a synagogue in Heemstede, where multiple explosive devices were discovered in close proximity to the site.”

“This attempted attack comes amid a wave of recent incidents targeting Jewish institutions in the Netherlands and across Europe, including attacks in Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Liège.

“The discovery of explosive materials near a place of worship is extremely alarming and highlights the serious and ongoing threat facing Jewish communities. Preventing this attack likely averted potentially devastating consequences.

“This incident underscores the urgent need for heightened vigilance, strong intelligence cooperation, and reinforced protection of Jewish sites. Authorities must ensure that those responsible are identified and that any wider networks behind these attempts are dismantled.

“Jewish communities must be able to live, gather, and pray in safety. Attempts to terrorize them will not succeed.”

The Iran-linked Islamic Ashab al-Yamin terror organization claimed responsibility for the attacks in the Netherlands as well as more recent attacks in London and Antwerp.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)