4 suspected Hamas members arrested over plot on Jewish institutions in Europe

Four alleged Hamas members suspected of plotting terror attacks in Europe were arrested on Thursday by German and Dutch police, federal prosecutors said.

Three of the members, two Lebanese and one Egyptian, were taken into custody in Germany, with the fourth member, a Dutch national, booked in the Netherlands, according to Berlin’s federal prosecutor’s office.

That nations’ police did not publish the suspects full names, as per their law, identifying them only by first name and last initial: Abdelhamid Al A, Ibrahim El-R, Mohamed B and Nazih R.

Officials believe the suspects were planning attacks on Jewish Institutions in Europe, which comes amid warnings over the rise of terror risks across the continent and in the US due to the Israel-Hamas war.

“The protection of Jews is our top priority,” German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in a statement while touting the vigilance of German and Dutch police. “We use all constitutional means against those who threaten the lives of Jews and the existence of the state of Israel.”

German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said his nation has seen an increase in attacks aimed at Jewish people and institutions since Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7 and killed more than 1,200 people.

He described the plot allegedly hatched by the three terrorists in Germany as “shameful and shocking.”

“We must therefore do everything we can to ensure that Jews in our country do not have to fear for their safety again,” he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu noted that the arrests also come after Dutch police booked three other people suspected of plotting a different terror attack.

“Thanks to an intensive and comprehensive intelligence investigation, today Denmark security and enforcements [sic] arrested 7 terrorist operatives acting on behalf of the terrorist organization Hamas, and thwarted an attack aimed at killing innocent citizens on European soil,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement of the arrests in the Netherlands and Germany.

There was no direct link between the two sets of arrests, the Danish Intelligence Agency told CNN.

The European arrests come just a week after the FBI warned that America was facing the highest risk of a terrorist attack in years following Hamas’ Oct. 7 invasion.

“The threat level has gone to a whole ‘nother level since Oct. 7,” FBI Director Christopher Wray told the Senate Judiciary Committee. “I have never seen a time where all the threats are all elevated, all at exactly the same time.”

While the FBI has yet to find any evidence that Hamas “has the intent or capability to conduct operations inside the US,” Wray warned that supporters or sympathizers of the terrorist group could launch attacks on the group’s behalf.