Car-burning in Antwerp Jewish quarter triggers ‘terror’ probe

BRUSSELS: Two minors have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in a “terrorist” organization after a car was set on fire in Antwerp’s Jewish quarter overnight, the public prosecutor in the Belgian port city said Tuesday.
The arrests follow a spate of incidents targeting Europe’s Jewish community since the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran, including in Belgium where a blast hit a synagogue in Liege earlier this month.
Based on initial findings, the prosecutor’s office said, a judge is investigating the suspects for arson and “participation in the activities of a terrorist group.”
“A claim video circulating online has been added to the case file,” it added
Investigators are still working to determine the suspects’ motives, prosecutors said, without specifying whether they were believed to have deliberately targeted the Jewish community.
The Antwerp fire occurred shortly after 11:30 p.m. Monday (2230 GMT), and police arrested the two suspects — both from the city — about 15 minutes later.
The car was parked in the diamond district, home to much of Antwerp’s Orthodox Jewish community.
In comments aired by Flemish public broadcaster VRT at the scene, the car’s owner — a woman identified only by her first name Fatia, who did not specify her religion — said valuables had been stolen from her vehicle before it was set ablaze.
The arson incident comes with European authorities on alert for possible attacks linked to the Middle East war.
SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist activity worldwide, reported that a recently-formed group calling itself Harakat Ashab Al-Yamin Al-Islamiya (HAYI) group, meaning The Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand, had claimed responsibility for the Antwerp fire in a video.
The same group claimed, in another video, to have carried out an arson attack that destroyed four Jewish community ambulances near a synagogue in London overnight Sunday to Monday — a claim UK authorities say they are examining.
HAYI had previously circulated claims of responsibility for a March 9 explosive attack outside the Liege synagogue and for similar nighttime incidents targeting a synagogue and then a Jewish school in the Netherlands on March 13 and 14 — none of which caused any injuries.
Belgian prosecutors said following the Liege blast they were examining an apparent jihadist video claiming responsibility, treating it with caution.
SITE describes the HAYI group as pro-Iranian, while the Dutch-based International Center for Counter-Terrorism noted that the London claim video circulated on online accounts linked to pro-Iranian Shia militias.
The Belgian government has stepped up security around Jewish sites in response to the Liege incident, with soldiers deployed to support police as of Monday around synagogues, schools and daycare centers in Antwerp and Brussels.