Dutch police on Saturday said ​they were investigating an explosion overnight at the Israel Center ​in the central town of Nijkerk.

There were ⁠no reports of ​injuries and the damage ​at the site, run by the Christians for Israel charity, ​was minimal, a ​police statement posted on social ‌media ⁠said.

Police ⁠said there had been no arrests and ⁠appealed ​for witnesses ​to come forward.

Christians for Israel said the detonation was caused by an explosive device.

In a statement on its website, the group expressed shock and said the blast fits a pattern of attacks on Jewish sites that are intended to sow fear.

Israel’s Ambassador to the Netherlands, Zvi Aviner Vapni, said that the explosion was not an isolated incident and called for the capture of the perpetrators, in a post on X.

https://t.co/dLJYa9hyyZ First Jews were intimidated and attacked in the Netherlands. Now Christians who support Israel are being targeted too. This explosion at the Christenen voor Israël center in Nijkerk is not an isolated incident: these criminals must be captured and… Advertisement if(typeof rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner != "function" || !rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner("#336x280_Middle_1")){ window.tude = window.tude || { cmd: [] }; tude.cmd.push(function() { if(navigator.userAgent.indexOf("rgbmedia-app") > -1){ tude.setDeviceType("mobile"); } tude.refreshAdsViaDivMappings([ { divId: '336x280_Middle_1', baseDivId: '336x280_Middle_1', } ]); }); } — Amb. Zvi A. Vapni (@vapni) April 4, 2026

https://t.co/dLJYa9hyyZ

First Jews were intimidated and attacked in the Netherlands. Now Christians who support Israel are being targeted too. This explosion at the Christenen voor Israël center in Nijkerk is not an isolated incident: these criminals must be captured and…

— Amb. Zvi A. Vapni (@vapni) April 4, 2026

The incident comes after a string of similar attacks on Jewish sites across Europe in recent weeks that has heightened concerns over antisemitism in the wake of the war in the Middle East.

In March, four ambulances in north London belonging to Hatzola, a Jewish not-for-profit volunteer organization that responds to medical emergencies, were set ablaze outside a synagogue in an antisemitic hate crime.

UK media outlets reported that a terror group going by the name Ashab al-Yamin had taken responsibility for the attack on social media.

The group emerged publicly last month and is believed to be linked with Iranian terror networks. Israel’s Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Ministry said the group has claimed responsibility for a series of explosions and arson attacks targeting Jewish sites in Belgium, Amsterdam, and Rotterdam.

The group also claimed that it had attacked a Jewish site in Greece earlier this month, although it is not clear what that referred to.

One such attack was an explosion targeted a synagogue in Liège, Belgium in March. No one was injured in the blast.

Belgium later began deploying military troops to reinforce security at synagogues and Jewish schools.

Another explosion hit a Jewish school in Amsterdam in March, that damaged a rain pipe and charred an outer wall at the school. It is the only one specifically for Orthodox Jews in the Netherlands, and is largely fenced off by a pointed, metal outer wall due to earlier threats.

A week prior, in the Dutch city of Rotterdam, Dutch police they had arrested four young men on suspicion of setting off an explosion outside a synagogue in the city that caused a brief blaze and damage to the building.

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antisemitism in the Netherlands

Christians for Israel

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