Car torched in suspected antisemitic attack in Belgium
Two minors arrested moments after the arson attack; Israel's ambassador calls for a 'thorough investigation and decisive action'
BRUSSELS – The torching of a car overnight in Antwerp, Belgium for which two minors were arrested, is being treated as a suspected antisemitic attack, a Belgian official said on Tuesday.
European countries including Belgium, the Netherlands and Britain have witnessed incidents targeting the Jewish community since the United States and Israel launched their war on Iran on February 28.
A spokesperson for the Antwerp prosecutor said an investigation was under way, and that the two suspects had been arrested shortly before midnight on Monday, moments after the attack.
They said a video circulating on social media that purportedly showed the arson attack appeared authentic and was part of the investigation. Reuters did not independently verify the video.
In a post on X, the European Jewish Congress condemned the arson attack, saying that it “reflects a deeply troubling escalation in acts targeting Jewish communities.”
Over the past two weeks, synagogues have been attacked in Liege, Belgium, and in the Dutch city of Rotterdam, as was a Jewish school in Amsterdam. In Britain, counterterrorism officers are leading an investigation into an attack on Jewish community ambulances.
The deliberate arson attack on a car in the Jewish district of Antwerp, reportedly claimed by “Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya”, is a matter of grave concern.
Together with the recent burning of Jewish ambulances in London, it brings to six the number of attacks attributed to… https://t.co/X9R62n8D8O
— European Jewish Congress (@eurojewcong) March 24, 2026
“There must be a thorough investigation and decisive action to put an end to this climate of intimidation before it spirals further,” Israel’s ambassador to Belgium, Idit Rosenzweig-Abu, said on X.
Belgium on Monday deployed soldiers on the streets of its biggest cities to bolster security at Jewish sites including synagogues and schools.
Soldiers in Belgium will begin working alongside local police forces “as soon as possible,” in coordination with the Federal Police, Defense Minister Theo Francken and Interior Minister Bernard Quintin said last week.
The plan is believed to cover 20 synagogues around the country and four Jewish schools in Antwerp, local media reported. The city is home to most of Belgium’s 30,000 Jews. Estimates say that more than 50 soldiers will patrol with police for “as long as necessary.”
The SITE Intelligence website said an Iran-aligned multinational militant collective called Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand had claimed responsibility for the attack near a synagogue in Golders Green, London.
It said the group had been behind the fires in Liege, Rotterdam and Amsterdam.
Mark Rowley, London’s police chief, said the claim was one of the lines of inquiry being pursued.