The Netherlands uses a 5-level scale of terrorist threat, where 5 is the highest, "critical," level.
"The previous Terrorist Threat Assessment for the Netherlands (DTN) described a heightened terrorist threat due to the fact that jihadist organisations were preparing to carry out terrorist attacks in Europe. Over the past few months the terrorist threat has increased to such an extent that the threat level has been raised to 4 (‘substantial’). This means that there is a realistic possibility that an attack will take place in the Netherlands," the agency's statement read.
Among the root causes of heightened terrorist threat in the country, the statement mentioned the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, acts of desecration of the Quran in a number of European countries and calls for attacks from terrorist organizations.
Last week, the Dutch Foreign Ministry warned compatriots of the risks of traveling to Paris due to the increased terrorist threat in the French capital.
The concerns have grown in the EU over internal security against the backdrop of mounting cases of violent attacks in past months, including the October terrorist attacks on Swedish football fans in Brussels that resulted in two deaths and a teacher stabbing incident in France the same month. In the latest incident on December 2, a 26-year-old Frenchman of Iranian origin attacked several people in Paris, killing a 23-year-old German-Philippine tourist and injuring two men aged 66 and 60.