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Amsterdam Jewish school targeted in attack

Zac Crellin with Reuters, AFP
March 14, 2026

No injuries were reported in what Amsterdam's Mayor Femke Halsema described as a "deliberate attack." It follows an arson attack on a synagogue in Rotterdam a day earlier.

A police car outside a Jewish school in Amsterdam
Police have CCTV footage showing a suspect placing an explosive device at the scene, the mayor saidImage: Michel van Bergen/ANP/picture alliance

A Jewish school in Amsterdam was hit by an explosion early on Saturday in what the city's mayor called "a deliberate attack against the Jewish community."

No injuries were reported and damage was limited.

Mayor Femke ​Halsema said police have security camera footage of a person planting an explosive device at the school.

"This is a cowardly ​act of aggression ‌against the Jewish community," she said.

"Jewish people in Amsterdam are increasingly ​confronted with antisemitism. ⁠This is unacceptable."

Jewish institutions under threat

The explosion on Saturday is the latest in a spate of suspected attacks against Jewish institutions in recent weeks. Many of these incidents coincided with the US-Israeli war against Iran.

On Friday, a synagogue in the Dutch city of Rotterdam targeted by an overnight arson attack.

Security at synagogues and Jewish institutions across the Netherlands had already been heightened after this incident.

Earlier, on Monday, a synagogue in Liege in Belgium was also hit by an explosion that sparked a fire.

Meanwhile, in the United States, a gunman rammed his car into a synagogue in Deroit on Thursday.

Edited by: Alex Berry

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