French police detain brothers over 'lethal and antisemitic' plot

[Feroze]

French police detain brothers over 'lethal and antisemitic' plot​

3 hours ago
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Henri Astier

AFP via Getty Images
French anti-terror prosecutors have opened an investigation into two brothers suspected of plotting a "lethal and antisemitic" attack.
They say the men – described as Moroccan-Italian nationals aged 20 and 22 – were picked up last week in a car in northern France.
Officers found a loaded semi-automatic weapon, a bottle of hydrochloric acid and a flag of the Islamic State group in the vehicle, the prosecutors say.
As the current war in the Middle East enters its third week, many countries are on heightened alert for possible terror attacks motivated by the conflict. Jewish sites have been targeted with attacks in the US, the Netherlands and Belgium this week.


The pair are said to have arrived in France with their parents in 2017, after the family spent several years in Italy.
Anti-terrorist prosecutors said in a statement that, after concluding they could not wage jihad in Syria or the Palestinian territories, the brothers had in recent weeks developed a "terrorist plan in France, for which they aspired to martyrdom".
Analysis of seized digital devices, together with statements from relatives, revealed a "radicalisation of the two brothers over the past two years, as well as a marked intensification of their jihadist commitment in the days preceding their arrest", officials said.
The two brothers had taken steps in planning a "lethal and antisemitic" attack, the statement added, without giving specifics on the nature of the alleged plot.
There have been concerns that the threat of violence to Jewish communities around the world could be exacerbated due to the US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
An explosion at a Jewish school in Amsterdam on Saturday came a day after a suspected arson attack on a synagogue in Rotterdam the day prior.
A synagogue in the Belgian city of Liège was damaged in an explosion
In the US state of Michigan, a Lebanon-born gunman rammed ‌a pickup truck laden with fireworks and petrol into a synagogue on Thursday. The suspect killed himself, police said.

France: Police detain brothers over 'lethal and antisemitic' plot

A loaded gun, hydrochloric acid and an Islamic State flag were found in their car, prosecutors say.

www.bbc.com

 

[Solomon2]

Belgium’s Intelligence Agency: Iran Behind Synagogue Bombing, Arson Campaign​

“In March, explosives were detonated outside a Liège synagogue.”


Posted by Vijeta Uniyal Monday, September 28, 2026 at 01:00pm

• 

Iran was behind at least two terrorist attacks targeting the Jewish community in Belgium, the country’s security services disclosed. Pro-Iranian terror cells were involved in a blast outside a historic synagogue in the city of Liege in March and a subsequent arson attack in Antwerp’s Jewish quarter, Belgium’s intelligence agency Coordination Unit for Threat Analysis (CUTA) found.

“Belgium has confirmed that Iran was behind the attacks in the country six months ago,” Israel’s Ynetnews reported Saturday.

Tehran is suspected of directing a series of attacks targeting Jewish sites across several European cities since the beginning of 2026, including Liège, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, and London. “An Iran-affiliated jihadist group called the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right, also known as IMCR or Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, previously claimed responsibility for similar attacks, including an arson attack on a synagogue in Rotterdam and an attack against a Jewish school in Amsterdam,” the news website added.

The attacks in Belgium are part of Iran’s global campaign to target Jews and Israelis across the world. Gert Vercauteren, head of CUTA, said recently that local terror cells “certainly followed Iran’s call to strike Jewish and Israeli interests everywhere in the world.”

The involvement of Iran-linked terror cells does not come as a surprise. Shortly after the Liege Synagogue bombing, Vercauteren told the French newspaper Le Monde that it “is conceivable that pro-Iranian cells aimed to demonstrate their capacity to act.”

The Brussels Times reported Friday:

Speaking to Francophone broadcaster RTBF, the security chief [Vercauteren] stated that perpetrators “certainly” acted on Tehran’s orders to strike Jewish locations worldwide.

In March, explosives were detonated outside a Liège synagogue. In that same week, arsonists completely torched a car in the middle of Antwerp’s Jewish quarter. There were no casualties in either attack.

Now, however, Vercauteren stressed that the attacks formed part of a coordinated campaign rather than isolated vandalism.

Belgian authorities faced an immediate escalation in security threats following Hamas’ attack in Israel on 7 October 2023 and the outbreak of the war in Gaza. Tensions then boiled over in early spring.

An explosive device was detonated on Liège’s Rue Léon Frédéricq shortly before 04:00 on 9 March. This sudden blast shattered the quiet of the provincial city. (…)

Cross-border links complicate the ongoing investigation: Belgian incidents coincided with a string of plots in the Netherlands. Intelligence agencies disrupted several simultaneous operations. One such aborted plot involved a planned bombing of a synagogue in the Dutch town of Heemstede.

The trend is not limited to Europe. In 2025, Australia’s intelligence agency held Iran responsible for at least two antisemitic attacks in the country.

Even before the October 7 attack, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been targeting Israelis and Jews across the world. From Africa to South America, Iranian-backed terrorists have been behind several deadly and foiled attacks on cultural, diplomatic, and tourist sites. A 1992 car bombing at the Israeli Embassy by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist group killed 29 people and injured 240 others.

 

[Solomon2]

Why the thumbs down, Feroze? I thought you'd be pleased that this thread was pulled from obscurity.

 

[Feroze]

@Solomon2 , because to be quite frank you are a trouble maker.

I too am against anti-semitism as well.

 

[Solomon2]

@Solomon2 , because to be quite frank you are a trouble maker.

I too am against anti-semitism as well.

You're accusing this Jew of being "a trouble maker", followed not by citing any offensive content but by asserting that you're against anti-semitism. That doesn't strike you as strange?