On Thursday night, there was a pogrom in Amsterdam. It was directed against some 3,000 Israelis who were in the city to cheer on the Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer team, which was playing against the Dutch team Ajax in a UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) Europa League match.
Masked assailants – Muslims, some shouting “Free Palestine” – brutally attacked the Israelis. It is the most serious attack – actually a series of attacks – on Jews since October 7 and is being called a pogrom because of its scope and virulence.
There was an attempt to ram fleeing Jews with cars. Some were chased with knives and clubs; others were beaten to the ground. I picked up one report of a person who was repeatedly kicked even though he was apparently lying unconscious. Jews were pelted with fireworks, and in one instance an Israeli was thrown into a canal and not allowed to come out until he said, “Free Palestine.”
One of the most horrific stories was of a young man labelled a “high-value target”: his passport was stolen and put on social media together with a picture of him in IDF uniform.
https://www.jpost.com/international/article-828217
See video of the attack and excellent analysis:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cknAn3V0Kcw
This was not a spontaneous attack; it was clearly planned. As I write there is no information on precisely which group organized this – what is obvious is that that social media was utilized.
Israeli officials sent messages to the Israelis who were in Amsterdam to go to their hotels after the match and stay in their rooms. Prime Minister Netanyahu, angrily condemning the anti-Semitic attack, sent planes to bring Israelis home; Magen David Adom medics came along to assist those who had been injured. On Friday, Dutch police indicated it was safe for the Israelis to head to the airport.
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In a press conference on Friday, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof denounced the attack as anti-Semitic and said that “we will not tolerate it. We will persecute the perpetrators.”
Prosecute them? Get real. According to various reports, some 60 people were arrested and within hours all but four had been released.
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There are a number of factors that make this situation exceedingly disturbing:
[] Information about the planned attack had reached Israeli security authorities before the event. They then notified Dutch authorities and requested that there be a significant reinforcement of police in place by 7 PM. The request was ignored.
[] In fact, police were slow in responding when the violence began. According to one Israeli who was on the scene, “The police were not present at the conclusion of the games, and Muslims were waiting near train stations for Israeli fans and followed them. The police only started to intervene after about half an hour to 45 minutes into the attacks, after the attackers threw firecrackers at people and into buildings.” (Emphasis added)
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/398843
[] According to outraged Dutch Parliamentarian Geert Wilders, writing on X Saturday, “Amsterdam Police just confirmed that NO ONE has been arrested during the Islamic Jew-hunt in Amsterdam Thursday night. All arrests have been made before and during the soccer match [when there were some clashes that resulted in injuries] and NOT during the pogrom.” (Emphasis added)
[] About a month ago, a report surfaced that Dutch police were allowing officers to refuse to protect Jewish institutions. “We take moral objections into account when creating schedules,” said police spokeswoman Mireille Beentjes.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/398843
Consider the shocking implications of this: “Among the sites some officers refused to be stationed near is the Dutch National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam.” Moral objections to protecting a Holocaust museum!!
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What we are seeing then, clearly, is not “just” anti-Semitic rioting by Muslim immigrants. We are seeing official indifference to providing protection for Jews.
This is from a Dutch Jew, speaking after rioters tore down the Israeli flag he flew outside his home and burned it (emphasis added):
“Things have been taking a turn the past year though. Antisemitism has been getting worse, and it feels like it isn’t an ‘isolated incident here and there’ anymore, as many people often like to say. It is everywhere. You can feel it. My wife is Israeli, and she always looks around before speaking Hebrew to our little daughter in public. That is the point it has come to…
“I feel sad, scared, angry and resentful. So many emotions, all at the same time.
“…I don’t feel like the government is taking their job to protect us seriously. We’re just Jews after all, right? …The mayor does nothing of substance to protect us. It is infuriating.”
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Today (Sunday) the Jerusalem Post ran an exclusive regarding a report from Israel’s Diaspora Affairs and Combatting Antisemitism Ministry written this past May. Wrote JPost editor Zvika Klein (pictured), it addresses alarming signs “of how deeply anti-Israel sentiment has infiltrated Dutch society, from fringe activism into mainstream public spaces, social media, and even legal channels…It captures an increasingly hostile environment where anti-Israel sentiment isn’t just tolerated but, at times, celebrated and encouraged…
“Perhaps most troubling is the Dutch government’s muted response to those activities [by anti-Israel activists]. By framing them as ‘human rights advocacy’ the authorities have allowed this movement to flourish. (Emphasis added)
https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-828167
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This should ring alarm bells loud and clear for the Jewish citizens of the Netherlands and other western Europe nations. Some are saying now that what just happened in Amsterdam echoes pre-Holocaust Germany. And there is reason for this charge.
Kristallnacht – the “night of broken glass” – was a pogrom carried out by the Nazis in Germany on November 9, 1938, with the participation of German citizens. An attack on Jewish stores (thus the broken glass) and homes, and on Jews, it was a turning point in the lead-up to the Holocaust.
There are analysts who believe the timing of the Dutch pogrom (right before Kristallnacht) was no accident and a precursor to yet worse to come.
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After the Holocaust it was not politically correct to be anti-Semitic, but this simply meant that people were reticent in public about their anti-Jewish and anti-Israel sentiments. October 7 of last year somehow gave people who were closet antisemites the freedom (the opportunity) to be publicly anti-Israel, and anti-Jewish. Everyone is painfully familiar with this phenomenon: Israel suffered an horrendous attack, and when fighting against an enemy sworn to annihilate Israel, was then accused of genocide.
I do not see reason to think this situation is going to improve.
For there is another factor that plays into this: the mass immigration into the western European nations of Muslims, many radical. The warnings have been out there for at least 15 or 20 years but have been ignored: Native Europeans are not even reproducing themselves – their birthrate is less than two per couple. The Muslims however are reproducing at a more rapid rate. Their relative numbers are growing; they do not have to achieve majority status to have vast influence on the politics and culture of their host nations. They already have a significant impact on the culture of the countries where they reside.
In 2027, Douglas Murray wrote a book called, The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam, which has been described as an account of “a continent and culture caught in the act of suicide.”
The Dutch pogrom was planned, initiated and carried out by Muslims.
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The situation in the Netherlands may be particularly worrisome, but we should not delude ourselves for a moment that similar phenomena and attitudes do not exist in other west European nations. Countries such as Germany, France and Britain are rife with anti-Jewish activity, much of it promoted by Muslim immigrants. For years, in Paris, there have been Islamic neighborhoods where the police will not go; France is finished.
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And so, I say to the Jews of western Europe: Get out before it gets worse.
There is one critical way in which the current situation is NOT like the days before the Holocaust. Thank Heaven a thousand times, now there is an Israel. An Israel that is strong and determined.
Come home!
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Rabbi Menachem Margolin, chairman of the European Jewish Association once criticized Prime Minister Netanyahu for telling European Jews to make aliyah. Now he has changed his mind.
Back in June, even before this latest event in Amsterdam, the rabbi declared that Europe’s Jews were in “emergency mode.” “The situation facing our communities is the worst it has been since World War Two….antisemitism has been normalised.”
If European governments “carry on as they have so far, if they continue to tolerate this flood of Jew hate, they can expect hundreds and thousands of us to leave…”
“We are not there yet, but be ready, get your government agencies ready,” the rabbi said in June. Perhaps now more are preparing for aliyah.
https://madan.org.il/en/news/rabbi-margolin-jews-may-be-about-leave-europe-en-masse
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There are a host of other subjects that I hope to address in coming posts. But I want to touch upon just one other matter here:
At Harvard University, professors either “canceled their Wednesday classes, made attendance optional or extended assignment deadlines” to help students cope with President-elect Donald Trump’s victory.
https://www.jns.org/at-harvard-courses-canceled-to-help-students-process-trump-victory/
That is shameful. The students should be ashamed of having so little resilience and the professors should be ashamed of fostering and legitimizing this lack of resilience. These students, presumably, are slated to be among tomorrow’s leaders in America, and this is not reassuring. Shape up, face your loss, find purpose in your life and get on with what you have to do. This is what their professors should be teaching them.
I comment on this because I am keenly aware of how Israel’s young adults, the same age as these American college students, are conducting themselves. They are at war, brave, resilient, acting with purpose and dedication. They are a source of enormous pride and give us great hope for the future of our nation. Sometimes I am astounded by their selflessness.
Food for thought.
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Please, pray with a full heart…
[] for the safety of the Jewish People everywhere,
[] for the continued strength and courage of Israel’s leaders as they make the hard decisions,
[] for the safety of our soldiers in battle as they fight a righteous war,
[] and for the rescue of the hostages.
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©Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by independent journalist Arlene Kushner. Permission is granted for it to be reproduced only with proper attribution.
