BACKGROUND – TALKING POINTS – ACTIONS – VOICES – STORIES
Israel did not exist when the Holocaust brought death and destruction to Jews across Europe. Israel is now a nation capable of sending planes to Europe to rescue Jews in peril, and it recently did just that – rescuing Israelis under attack in Amsterdam. It is mind-blowing that Jews in Europe today needed to be saved after premeditated and coordinated violent attacks were carried out against Israeli soccer fans for just being Jewish. The assault happened right before the anniversary of Kristallnacht, Night of Broken Glass – the notorious night when Nazis ransacked thousands of Jewish businesses, destroyed hundreds of synagogues and killed 91 Jews in 1938. Chants to “Globalize the Intifada” around the world are normalizing attacks against Jews everywhere.
Netherlands: ‘Hunting for Jews’
In the midst of attacks, videos and pictures quickly spread on social media documenting the violence:
Non-Jews also were attacked. One man was punched in the face while shouting: “I’m not Jewish!” Another was beaten because the attackers stated that he “helped a Jew.”
The Network Contagion Research Institute documented evidence of the planned violence. Several Dutch anti-Israel groups used their social media accounts on Instagram, Telegram and WhatsApp to promote organized violence. Amsterdam’s mayor: “On social media groups, people talked of going to hunt down Jews.”
Israelis witnessed gangs spread throughout the city armed with clubs and knives ready to ambush them, stabbing, kicking and ramming cars into Israelis. Dan Kopleh: “For an hour and a half from the start of the event, the police didn’t lift a finger.” Amit Amira: “Three people approached me on the street and asked where I was from. I said, ‘Greece.’ One of them grabbed my hand and told me to show my ID.” A day before the game, an Israeli was beaten up by a gang of nearly a dozen: “I was punched in the head, two teeth broken. I was found in a pool of blood.”
The Netherlands is home to nearly 1 million Muslims, largely the result of the Dutch colonial past when it controlled large swaths of what is now Indonesia and other predominantly Muslim lands. Muslim immigration increased after a civil war in Indonesia and guest worker programs that brought Turks and Moroccans and other immigrants from Southeast Asia and North Africa.
Dutch Leaders Ignored Warnings: ‘We failed the Jewish community again’
Israeli security agencies warned Dutch authorities about three identifiable threats before the soccer game. Now, the government is investigating why these warnings were not addressed. There were reports that police arrested 62 attackers, but those arrests were made before and during the game.
Dutch and other prominent leaders – including the Dutch king and prime minister, the Amsterdam mayor and dozens of politicians worldwide – immediately condemned the attacks. Dutch police admitted they failed to be more prepared and did not act quickly enough:
A recent troubling report claimed that some Dutch police officers refused to guard Jewish sites or events – including the Dutch National Holocaust Museum – because of “moral objections.” When the museum opened in March, anti-Israel activists protested outside because Israel’s president attended the ceremony. Attacks against Jews in the Netherlands have surged 800% since the 10/7 massacre. Earlier this year, a Dutch airport guard of Pakistani ancestry harassed a former hostage of Hamas. Two survivors of the Nova music festival faced similar abuse at a British airport.
About 3,000 Israeli soccer fans were in Amsterdam to cheer their team from Tel Aviv that was playing against a Dutch squad. Videos show some Israeli fans tearing down a Palestinian flag the day before the attack, as well as a large group of fans chanting anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian rhetoric. These acts have been used by some to justify the attacks even though there is evidence that the large-scale assaults across the city were organized and coordinated well in advance.
Police officers “deny that the Jewish supporters misbehaved or brought aggression upon themselves.” One officer stated: “The ferocity of the attacks, but also the cowardice to beat up groups of defenseless people in dark alleys and streets was disgusting.” Days later, Arab and Muslim rioters torched a tram, with at least one instigator shouting, “Cancer Jews,” proving that this the prior attacks targeted Jews not Israelis or soccer ‘hooligans.’ The Netherlands is home to nearly 1 million Muslims, largely the result of the Dutch colonial past.
Belgium: ‘Hunting for Jews’
Anti-Israel activists took to social media to call for a “Jew hunt” in the Jewish quarter of Antwerp, Belgium, following the Amsterdam violence. Police increased patrols. Attacks on the Belgian Jewish community mirror assaults around the world. A few weeks prior, assailants filmed themselves attacking a 14-year-old Orthodox boy: “They wrestled him to the ground, sat on him and stomped on his skull.” Belgian Rep. Michael Freilich called for soldiers to patrol the streets. He mentioned that at a recent anti-Israel demonstration, there was a shout: “Allah, burn the Jews.”
In London, two residents in a Facebook group used an anti-Jewish slur coined by the KKK to incite violence at Queen Mary Univ.: “Can’t wait to give them the welcome they deserve,” stated Abdul Rahman. Keira Peters responded, “Amsterdam style.” Also in the British capital, a Jewish woman was rendered unconscious by kicks in the head from two teenage girls who laughed over her body: “She’s dead!”
Paris is another soccer focal point. The day before the Amsterdam attacks, fans of a Qatar-owned Paris soccer team unfurled a massive “Free Palestine” banner that erased Israel and glorified violence. France is deploying 4,000 security officers for the Israeli men’s national team’s upcoming soccer match. Israeli national and local soccer and basketball teams have been playing their European competition ‘home’ games in Budapest, Hungary, and Belgrade, Serbia – European cities considered to be safer for Israeli teams.
America: Attacks Leading up to Kristallnacht Anniversary
A man wearing a balaclava recently attempted to kidnap a six-year-old Jewish boy straight out of his father’s hand while walking down the street in broad daylight in Brooklyn. Days later, a man driving his moped with a woman holding a young child behind him knocked a kippa off of the head of a Jewish man who was crossing the street on Staten Island. LA police are investigating a hate crime following vandalism of Jewish-owned businesses. And on the same night as the Kristallnacht anniversary, a kosher Washington, DC, restaurant had its windows shattered, causing $12,000 in damages.
Ensure Jews receive the same protections as any other group
Jewish communities deserve full protection against hate and violence. Call on national, state and local leaders to prioritize security, enforce anti-hate laws and promote community initiatives to ensure everyone – including Jews – can live, worship and gather safely, free from discrimination and threats.
Justifying Terror Against Jews
American singer-songwriter and Bob Dylan’s son-in-law Peter Himmelman responded to the false narrative that is blaming the Jewish soccer fans for the attacks against them. An excerpt from Justifying terror against Jews:
Sometimes, having so much to say makes it hard to say anything at all. I’ll start with someone I knew in NY in the mid-eighties – let’s call him HON, a hairdresser of note, whose advice I once followed religiously.
Last night, however, HON posted something vile on Instagram, blaming Jews for recent attacks against them. He claimed “inside knowledge” from Amsterdam that somehow Jewish fans brought violence upon themselves. This tactic – blaming Jews for the horrors inflicted on them – is an age-old prejudice. It’s how the Crusades, Inquisition, European pogroms, the Hebron Massacre, the Shoah and now 10/7 unfolded: justifications based on the supposed “faults” of Jews, for being “too loud” or “too proud.”
What HON’s post shows is the insidious progression of hate: how the world can shrug, justify, and accept unspeakable violence against Jews. But it also shows something new. When nearly a dozen planes from El Al and Arkia flew to rescue Amsterdam’s Jews, the world was reminded that Jews are no longer willing to go like lambs to the slaughter.
I ask HON: Where’s your evidence? The King of the Netherlands himself acknowledged, “We failed the Jewish community of the Netherlands during World War II, and last night we failed again.” Spreading hate is beneath you. Stick to hair.
Stories Impacting the U.S. and Israel
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This content is developed by The Focus Project in partnership with MERCAZ USA. The Focus Project distributes weekly news and talking points on timely issues concerning Israel and the Jewish people, including antisemitism, anti-Zionism and the delegitimization of Israel. It represents a consensus view across a spectrum of major American Jewish organizations. MERCAZ USA recognizes and respects the diversity of views on these issues among its readers and the community at large.