Belgian police on Tuesday morning arrested two minors in connection with the suspected torching of a car in Antwerp’s so-called Jewish Quarter, local media reported.
No one was injured in the incident, which followed at least five suspected terrorist attacks in Europe for which a hitherto unknown Islamist person or group called Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI) has claimed responsibility. Jews were targeted in at least four of those attacks.
Bruno Struys, a journalist for the De Morgen daily, presented on Tuesday a video he found on social media showing two people walking and running away from a burning car moments after one of them doused it with liquid. The video featured a statement saying Antwerp was targeted because it “has a large Zionist community.” The torching was as “revenge for the blood of Palestinians,” the text read, adding that “operations will continue and intensify until the liberation of our occupied lands on beloved Palestine.”
JNS was unable to immediately confirm that the video, said to be from Antwerp, was shared on the same social media accounts as the statements about previous attacks. A previous statement about the torching of four ambulances in London on March 23 used Jewish terminology for the Holy Land, calling it “The Land of Israel.”
Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken wrote on X following the incident that, “Our troops arrived right on time. Deployment was the right decision.” He was referring to the decision last week, carried out this week, to deploy the military to protect Jewish community members and facilities following the March 9 explosion outside a synagogue in Liege.
In a previous report, the ministry said that content published by the group, which surfaced in Europe this month following an explosion outside a synagogue in Liege, Belgium, on March 9, “spread quickly on Telegram channels affiliated with Shi’ite militant networks and pro-Iranian circles, including channels linked to Hezollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).”
Israel and other Western countries have accused Iran of being involved in gathering intelligence on Jewish community buildings, possibly to facilitate terrorist attacks. Four teenagers arrested in connection with an explosion outside a synagogue in Rotterdam had been “recruited,” Dutch Justice Minister David van Weel said last week. Iranian involvement in the incident is being “seriously considered,” he added.
