by Joe Truzman, Spectator
When a synagogue is firebombed or a Jewish school is targeted in Europe, the instinct is to reach for a familiar explanation: the rising tide of anti-Semitism, the radicalised lone wolf, the unhinged fringe. That explanation is no longer adequate. What is unfolding now in the UK and across Europe is not a spontaneous eruption of hatred. It seems now to be a coordinated campaign by Iran designed to make Jewish life feel existentially unsafe.
The group behind this campaign calls itself Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiyyah, a previously unknown organisation that emerged this month claiming a bomb attack outside the Synagogue of Liège on 9 March, an arson attack on a synagogue in Rotterdam, and an explosive attack on a Jewish school in Amsterdam. The group has also claimed an attack in Greece, though that claim remains unverified.
To understand who is likely behind Ashab al-Yamin, remember that Iran is the world’s number one state sponsor of terrorism, responsible for building and directing a network of proxies across the Middle East including Hezbollah, Hamas and Iranian-backed militias in Iraq. The group’s name, logo, and online aesthetics bear a striking resemblance to those very Iraqi armed groups and Hezbollah. Its claims have been widely disseminated across Telegram channels linked to Iran’s Axis of Resistance.