Arrest Made After ‘Burning Object’ Thrown at Israeli Embassy in The Hague

AFP — Dutch police said Thursday they had arrested someone suspected of throwing a burning object at Israel’s embassy in The Hague, which is under heavy security amid the war in Gaza.

“Around 10:50 am someone threw a burning object… towards the Israeli embassy,” police said.

“We have arrested one suspect. No-one was injured. We are investigating and there is a large barrier around the embassy.”

Security has been stepped up around Israeli embassies across the world as the country’s military presses an offensive in Gaza following the October 7 attacks by Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The Hamas attacks resulted in about 1,160 deaths in Israel, mostly of civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel’s military has since waged a relentless ground and air offensive in Gaza that has killed 31,988 people, most of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the densely populated Palestinian territory.

“It is unacceptable that such an attack can take place in the Netherlands. Fortunately, no injuries were reported,” said the embassy in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.

“This shows the dangerous consequences of the worrying trend of increasing hatred and incitement. This hatred cannot be tolerated.”

Outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte also described the attack as “unacceptable”.

“Criticism is allowed in the Netherlands but this should never lead to violence. I am grateful to the authorities, who are taking this very seriously,” added Rutte.

In February, there was a bomb scare at the official residence of the Israeli ambassador in The Hague.

Police cordoned off the area but found no explosives.

At the time, authorities in The Hague had imposed emergency security measures around the Israeli embassy in response to an unspecified threat.

In January, the bomb squad in Sweden destroyed a “live” device at Israel’s embassy in Stockholm, something authorities described as a potential “terrorist crime”.

The CIDI association, which fights against anti-Semitism in The Netherlands, described Thursday’s attack as “another step in a sliding scale of hatred and violence against the Jewish state”.