Three Attacks. Five Days. One Coordinated Campaign Against Jewish Life in the Benelux.

These antisemitic attacks, which targeted Jewish religious sites as well as a school in Amsterdam, are a stark reminder that Iranian-linked militias have sleeping cells operating in Europe — and in particular in the Netherlands and Belgium. What has unfolded across the Benelux between March 9 and March 14, 2026, is not a series of isolated incidents perpetrated by unconnected individuals. It is a pattern — coordinated in timing, consistent in targets, and bearing the hallmarks of a network with ideological roots that lead directly back to Tehran.

Three Jewish institutions attacked in five days. A synagogue bombed in Liège, Belgium. A synagogue set ablaze in Rotterdam. A Jewish school — a place where children study — struck by an explosion in Amsterdam’s Buitenveldert district at 4:00 a.m. on March 14. In each case, the buildings were empty. In each case, the attackers struck under cover of darkness. In each case, the same online name has claimed responsibility. And in each case, not a single child, worshipper, or teacher was injured — a mercy that may not hold if these attacks continue to escalate.

“Harakat Ashab al-Bayan al-Islamiyya”: A Name Invented for Terror

Each of the three attacks has been claimed by an entity calling itself the “Movement of the Companions of the Declaration” — a name that Dutch and Belgian investigators, as well as independent analysts, are treating with significant skepticism as to its organic origins, while taking the threat itself with complete seriousness.

Whether the group name is a cover identity, an ad hoc creation, or a genuine new formation, the operational capability it has demonstrated — three coordinated attacks on Jewish institutions in two countries in under a week — demands a serious investigative and security response. Names can be invented. Explosives cannot.

Authorities Condemn — But the Jewish Community Says Words Are Not Enough

Iran’s Sleeping Cells in the Netherlands: This Is Not a New Threat

We must be clear about what these attacks represent in their broader context. The IRGC — Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — has a documented, proven operational presence in Europe, including in the Netherlands and Belgium. This is not speculation. It is established fact, documented in court records, intelligence reports, and the testimonies of those who have survived Iranian state-sponsored assassination attempts on European soil.

We should remember that the IRGC has previously targeted opposition leaders in the Netherlands — including the assassination of Ahmad Mola Nissi, former President of the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz (ASMLA), who was shot dead in The Hague in November 2017. He is not alone. Iranian-linked operatives have killed, kidnapped, and surveilled Iranian dissidents, Arab minority activists, and Jewish community leaders across Europe for decades. The Netherlands, in particular, has been a theater for IRGC operations.

A Global Wave: Jewish Institutions Under Attack Across Three Continents

The Benelux attacks do not exist in isolation. Since January 2026, Jewish institutions have been targeted in a pattern of attacks spanning the United States, Canada, and Europe — a pattern that security experts increasingly link to the geopolitical escalation surrounding the U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran.