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18-03-2026
PARIS: French anti-terror prosecutors have opened an investigation into two brothers suspected of plotting a “lethal and anti-Semitic” attack.
They say the men described as Moroccan-Italian nationals aged 20 and 22 were picked up last week in a car in northern France.
Officers found a loaded semi-automatic weapon, a bottle of hydrochloric acid and a flag of the Islamic State group in the vehicle, the prosecutors say.
As the current war in the Middle East enters its third week, many countries are on heightened alert for possible terror attacks motivated by the conflict. Jewish sites have been targeted with attacks in the US, the Netherlands and Belgium this week.
The pair are said to have arrived in France with their parents in 2017, after the family spent several years in Italy.
Anti-terrorist prosecutors said in a statement that, after concluding they could not wage jihad in Syria or the Palestinian territories, the brothers had in recent weeks developed a “terrorist plan in France, for which they aspired to martyrdom”.
Analysis of seized digital devices, together with statements from relatives, revealed a “radicalization of the two brothers over the past two years, as well as a marked intensification of their jihadist commitment in the days preceding their arrest”, officials said.
The two brothers had taken steps in planning a “lethal and antisemitic” attack, the statement added, without giving specifics on the nature of the alleged plot.
There have been concerns that the threat of violence to Jewish communities around the world could be exacerbated due to the US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
An explosion at a Jewish school in Amsterdam on Saturday came a day after a suspected arson attack on a synagogue in Rotterdam the day prior.
A synagogue in the Belgian city of Liège was damaged in an explosion
In the US state of Michigan, a Lebanon-born gunman rammed a pickup truck laden with fireworks and petrol into a synagogue on Thursday. The suspect killed himself, police said.
An explosion at a Jewish school in Amsterdam was a “deliberate attack against the Jewish community”, the mayor of the Dutch capital has said.
Femke Halsema said the overnight blast caused limited damage to the outer wall of the school in the Buitenveldert district. No injuries were reported.
“This is a cowardly act of aggression towards the Jewish community,” the mayor said, adding that Amsterdam “must be a place where Jews can live safely”. Prime Minister Rob Jetten said “there must be no place for antisemitism” in the Netherlands.
Security had already been stepped up at Jewish institutions after a suspected arson attack on a synagogue in Rotterdam on Friday.
Yesterday, a synagogue in the Belgian city of Liege was damaged in an explosion in the early hours of Monday, police have said.
The blast happened at around 04:00 local time (03:00 GMT) in front of the synagogue and damaged windows across the street but caused no injuries, according to officers.
Willy Demeyer, the city’s mayor, called the incident “an antisemitic act”, while Prime Minister Bart De Wever said later on social media: “We stand in solidarity with the Jewish community.”
The Belgian federal prosecutor’s office, which handles terrorism and organized crime, is leading the investigation, an official said.
“An explosive device was planted or thrown, I don’t know which outside one of the synagogue’s main doors,” Rabbi Joshua Nejman told media, saying that the blast “took out the windows and the door itself”. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
