Five young men from Tilburg and one from Amsterdam appeared in court on Tuesday for a procedural hearing in connection with the explosives attack on a Rotterdam synagogue in March.
The attack caused very minor damage to the building but did send shockwaves throughout the Jewish community in the Netherlands. It was followed several days later by two other explosive attacks in Amsterdam, including one of the city’s only Jewish secondary school.
Four of the youngsters, aged 17 to 23, were picked up 20 minutes after the blast, close to another synagogue some six kilometers away. One of them had written on Snapchat shortly after the first blast that they were “on the way to number 2, the public prosecution is quoted as saying by the AD.
The suspects, all of whom have Antillean roots, have denied knowing they had planted the explosives at a Jewish place of worship but have admitted involvement in the attack, which involved a powerful firework and a bottle of petrol. They were offered €3,000 to plant the explosives.
The public prosecution department, says both synagogues had Stars of David on their front walls and that the perpetrators were well aware there would be security.
Nevertheless, none of the suspects have any ideological motive for the attacks, the public prosecutor said. They do, however, all face terrorism charges, the department said, because the attacks were clearly aimed at terrorising the Jewish population.
“The suspects were used as young, unwitting perpetrators to serve a higher, disgusting aim,” said Sam Lodder, lawyer for one of the youngsters, in court. “My client does not even know what a synagogue is.”
A 32-year-old Iraqi named as Mohammad Al-Saadi is said to be the brain behind the Rotterdam attack. He is under arrest in the US and faces terrorism charges.
Al-Saadi is said to have been involved in nearly 20 attacks and attempted attacks throughout Europe and the United States targeting US and Jewish interests. They include an attack involving explosives against the Bank of New York Mellon, an American bank, in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Two Dutch teenagers, aged 16 and 17, have been arrested in connection with that attack.
