Authorities in Europe announced on Thursday that a Hamas terror plot against Jewish institutions on the continent had been foiled when seven individuals were arrested in a multi-nation operation.
At least four of the seven arrestees are believed to be members of Hamas, and the group of would-be attackers were taken into custody in Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands.
More on the arrests via Reuters:
Three of the suspects were detained in Berlin and another was detained in the Netherlands, all four longstanding members of Hamas with close links to the leadership of Hamas' military branch, German prosecutors said in a statement.
A Hamas official denied those held were connected to the group.
Three people arrested in Denmark would be charged under the terrorism clause of the criminal code and put in front of a judge for preliminary questioning, police said. It was not clear if there was a link between the arrests in Denmark and those in Germany and the Netherlands.
Dutch national Nazih R was arrested by police in Rotterdam, while Lebanon-born Abdelhamid Al A and Ibrahim El-R, as well as Egyptian national Mohamed B, were arrested in the German capital, German prosecutors said.
Abdelhamid Al A had been assigned by Hamas leaders in Lebanon with finding sources for weapons, prosecutors said. The weapons were due to be taken to Berlin and kept ready for potential terrorist attacks against Jewish institutions, prosecutors said.
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As Mark Dubowitz, the CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, reminded, "Hamas has sought to distance itself from international terrorist groups by claiming it was active only in so-called 'historic Palestine'" but now things "have changed" as the Iran-backed terrorists face "defeat at the hands of the Israel Defense Forces in its Gaza Fiefdom" and are now "apparently looking for easier targets in Europe."
Dubowitz added that this development "should have been no surprise after the group's brutal tactics on October 7. It mass murdered like ISIS and is spreading in Europe like ISIS."
Enia Krivine, the senior director of FDD's Israel Program and National Security Network, noted that "earlier in December, a senior Hamas official appeared on Arabic language media calling for worldwide acts of violence" and "these attempted Hamas terror attacks on European soil likely have two goals: to pressure the international community — Europe specifically — to constrain Israel in its war on Hamas and to counter the images of mass surrenders in Gaza that make Hamas look weak and vulnerable."
However, Krivine said, "the Mossad was one step ahead, and the attempted attacks will hopefully strengthen, not weaken, Europe’s resolve to hold Hamas accountable for its crimes."
In a statement from Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Mossad, and Shin Bet, the leaders said the European arrests showed "the expansion of Hamas infrastructures to Europe" as part of the Iran-backed terrorists' plans to carry out attacks on "Israeli, Jewish, and Western targets at any price." The Israeli statement emphasized that its intelligence community would keep cooperating with foreign allies but did not take direct credit for the terrorist takedown in Europe.
The interruption of the Hamas plots in Europe come after senior Hamas officials renewed threats against the United States this week. Sami Abu Zuhri, the head of the terrorist organization's political department abroad, declared that the U.S. government is "the enemy, just like [Israel's government]" and the U.S. "must pay the price, just like Netanyahu."
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