Prosecutors have charged three migrants from Palestine and Syria for attacking a Jewish synagogue in Gothenburg, Sweden last December, following the announcement of the U.S. embassy in Israel’s move to Jerusalem.
The prosecution of the three men was announced this week by prosecutor Stella Lundqvist, who said that hate was likely a motive for the attack on the synagogue, Swedish broadcaster SVT reports.
The three migrants, who are in Sweden as temporary residents and are on work visas, are being charged with aggravated arson or attempted arson.
The prosecutor said the men, “together and in agreement with a number of unknown persons, started fires by throwing several bottles of burning gas or similar liquid to cars parked outside the synagogue of the property belonging to the Jewish Assembly in Gothenburg as well as neighbouring property. The cars belonged to members of the Jewish Assembly.”
Lundqvist added that the crime was being treated as especially serious because of the potential the fires had to spread to nearby buildings in the area, which could have caused far more damage.
The attack, which occurred last December, followed a protest in Gothenburg against the U.S. announcement to move its Israeli embassy to Jerusalem and recognize the city as the capital of Israel, and was said to have involved at least 20 people.
Earlier that same day in the heavily migrant-populated city of Malmö, protestors against the embassy move said, “We have announced the intifada from Malmö. We want our freedom back, and we will shoot the Jews!”
The new U.S. embassy, which opened earlier this month, has been the subject of violent protest by some, including the terror group Hamas, but the move was also welcomed by several European countries including the Czech Republic and Romania, who have both expressed a desire to follow in the footsteps of U.S. President Donald Trump and move their country’s embassies to Jerusalem as well.