Marvin Polak is on the board of the Jewish community and has been appointed spokesperson. According to Polak, it has been discussed more than once in the past week: what if an attack also happens at our synagogue? “After the synagogue in Rotterdam and the Jewish school in Amsterdam you become extra alert. You of course hope that it doesn’t happen, but it is possible,” says Polak.
Local residents were awakened last night by a helicopter and police dogs in the area. The police arrested two teenagers who were behaving suspiciously around the synagogue in Heemstede. The boys from Amsterdam, aged 14 and 17, were checked and arrested around a quarter past one.
Tensions in the world
The community tries to remain sober, after all, nothing went wrong last night, but there is also unrest. “With the tensions in the world, there is now a fear,” Polak acknowledges.
Nothing further is clear about the situation tonight. This afternoon a meeting was held at the synagogue with the board of the Jewish community, Mayor Falgun Binnendijk and the police, but the mayor said he could not yet make any statements about this.
Explosions in Amsterdam and Rotterdam
Last Saturday an explosive went off at one Jewish school in Amsterdam. Mayor Halsema said it was a “cowardly act of aggression towards the Jewish community”.
In addition, last week there was an attack on the Zuidas in Amsterdam and an explosion at a synagogue in Rotterdam. All these attacks have been claimed by a group calling itself Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiyyah.
