Mideast War blowback

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Members of the small Jewish community in Amsterdam confronted the city’s deputy mayor Friday morning, demanding answers for failure to prevent violent attacks on Israeli soccer fans the night before that international Jewish organizations and leaders condemned as a “pogrom.”

“My parents are terrified, I am terrified,” one man shouted in Dutch during the gathering. “I have a little daughter — what will be done, goddamnit?”

was an expression of the anguish that many of Amsterdam’s estimated 15,000 Jewish residents were feeling the day after five Israeli supporters of Maccabi Tel Aviv in town for a game against Ajax were hospitalized after attacks by Arab and Muslim assailants that the mayor called “antisemitic hit-and-run squads.”

Videos on social media showed men running through the streets beating Israelis and shooting fireworks at them. “Gaza!” a man lighting firecrackers yells in one clip. “Now you know how it feels.” A Dutch blog posted screenshots from a Whatsapp group showing people discussing a “Jew hunt” before the assaults.

But some Dutch Jews noted that roving bands of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans had spent Tuesday and Wednesday nights marauding through the city center chanting racist anti-Arab slogans, climbing a facade to rip a Palestinian flag off the second story of an apartment building and assaulting a Moroccan taxi driver.

Jelle Ziljstra, who is Jewish and works as a community organizer in Amsterdam, made a post that went viral on Instagram stating that “multiple truths can exist at the same time.” It highlighted both the assaults on Israelis and footage of the fans shouting “F— Palestine” the night before.

“There was definitely antisemitism involved in some of the events that took place,” Ziljstra said in an interview. “Were Jews attacked in the streets? Yes, but those Jews were also violent hooligans.”

Hooliganism and street assaults
Hundreds of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans traveled to Amsterdam this week for a Thursday night game against Ajax, a top soccer team in the Netherlands that has long had warm ties with Israel and whose fans refer to themselves as “Jews.”.

Tori Eghermann, an American Jew who moved to Amsterdam 20 years ago, said she passed by Dam Square, in the city center, on Thursday night and saw the Maccabi fans there singing and lighting smoke bombs. “They were really incredibly well organized and hyped up,” she said.

Eghermann noted that violent clashes between local residents and racist soccer hooligans are not uncommon in Amsterdam. “It’s not as though football fan clubs are known for their peaceful presence in the community.”

The Israeli fans later clashed with pro-Palestinian demonstrators, singing “F— you Palestine” and shouting “Let the IDF f— the Arabs.”

Forced to answer for Israel
Waterman, who also works as a strategic adviser to a local nonprofit called Jewish Social Work, spent Friday helping Israeli fans who volunteers had ferried to a safe location provided by a Jewish sports club in Amsterdam

He noted that the violence appeared to have been targeted only at the Israel visitors, and not Dutch Jews or Jewish institutions. But Waterman said many in the community were nonetheless shaken, especially after a year in which they have faced a spike in antisemitic and anti-Israel activity in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 terrorist attack in Israel and the start of the war in Gaza.

Hundreds of demonstrators protested outside the opening of the city’s first Holocaust museum in March, objecting to the presence of Israeli President Isaac Herzog but also accusing Dutch Holocaust survivors who attended of being “Zionist scum” and “baby killers.”

Waterman said many Dutch Jews are treated like representatives of Israel, a special burden in a country of only 30,000 Jews. “You might be the only Jewish kid in your school and kids say, ‘Hey, what are you people doing in Israel? Why are you killing kids?‘” he explained. “It can force you to defend things you don’t necessarily agree with.”

Antisemitic chants are also common at Dutch soccer stadiums. “Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas,” used to be a popular cheer for fans of teams playing Ajax, because of its association with Jews. It has fallen out of favor in recent years, but other derogatory songs have taken its place.

“I’ll speak to fans who assure me that they are not antisemitic, they’re just doing it because of Ajax, but there’s definitely some other factors,” said Boaz Krone, a social worker in Amsterdam.

Meanwhile, far-right Dutch politicians, who took control of the government in July, have positioned themselves as protectors of Holland’s Jews by seizing on antisemitism from Arab and Muslim residents of the country.

“A pogrom in the streets of Amsterdam,” Geert Wilders, who leads one of the party’s in the government coalition, said on X, formerly Twitter, Friday. “We have become the Gaza of Europe.”

This kind of rhetoric grates on Ziljstra, the community organizer whose Instagram post went viral. He has been frustrated by an insistence on the left that violence against the Israelis was justified — and by politicians like Wilders who are stripping the attacks of context to push an agenda that most of the country’s Jews don’t support.

“I really think that we should try to stay sane and not allow our pain and trauma to be weaponized like this,” he said.

Anti-Israel activists brought their children to a protest dubbed a "rage playdate" outside the home of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on Saturday, the New York Post reported.

The Brooklyn protest, which included about 60 people, did not receive the proper permits. Protesters brought coloring pages and a children's book that railed against “Zionist bullies” and chanted “Schumer, Schumer you will see, Palestine will be free.”

Police moved the protest away from the Senator's Prospect Park West home due to the lack of a permit. Protesters clashed with police, with one shouting that they would sue the law enforcement officers.

Protesters shouted “KKK NYPD" and called for US President-Elect to cut all American aid to Israel.

The protest outside Schumer's home comes less than two weeks after House Republicans accused the Senate Majority Leader of defending antisemitic protesters at Columbia University in New York City.

ro-Israel and pro-Palestinian demonstrators faced off in Bergen County on Thursday night during a protest over the controversial sale of properties in Israel and the occupied West Bank.

The protest took place in a residential area of Bergenfield to oppose an advertised presentation Thursday night in town from the real estate company My Israel Home. Video posted on social media shows crowds of people chanting, waving flags and holding signs for their respective group.

A pro-Palestinian group was seen marching through the neighborhood chanting in what some have described as a threatening manner.

The New Jersey chapter of American Muslims for Palestine announced plans for the protest on its Facebook page in recent days.

The organization, which says its mission is to educate Americans about the Palestinian people, said the real estate event was a way for Israel to "advance their imperialist agenda" and likened it to "ethnic cleansing" of Palestinians.

AMP says that Israel "is constructing settlement blocs strategically in order to divide the West Bank in order to annex more Palestinian land illegally" and that the settlements "act as a vehicle for ethnic cleansing."

The Anti Defamation League counters that AMP "promotes extreme anti-Israel views and has at times provided a platform for antisemitism under the guise of educating Americans about the just cause of Palestine and the rights of self-determination."

"AMP seeks to delegitimize and demonize the Jewish state," reads a passage on the ADL web site.

The Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey, meanwhile, issued a statement on social media following Thursday night's protest, offering its support for the Jewish community in Bergenfield and denouncing what it called an "antisemitic and hate-filled" protest.

The gathering was similar to other demonstrations throughout North Jersey in recent months involving information on buying property in Israel. Some of those properties have included West Bank settlements, the sale of which United States policy has considered illegal.

Jason Shames, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey, told NorthJersey.com that protesters were threatening and harassing Jewish people with chants of "intifada," an Arabic word referring to a rebellion or uprising. He then compared the protest to an outbreak of violence against supporters of an Israeli soccer team in Amsterdam this week in what officials described as antisemitic attacks.

"There’s lots of things I don’t like but it doesn’t mean I’m threatening genocide against other people," Shames said Friday morning. "Consider how far of a leap it was from what happened in Bergenfield to what happened in Amsterdam last night. It’s the same mob mentality."

Israeli authorities declared Saturday evening that a wave of violence against Israelis in Amsterdam — which saw mass, organized attacks on Thursday night following a soccer match there — was over, and that it was safe for Israelis to be in the Dutch capital.

Hours later, though, Israel’s Kan public broadcaster said its journalists were tailed in the center of the Dutch capital and needed a police escort, indicating that the threat hadn’t completely subsided.

On Saturday, Israel’s National Security Council cited an assessment from security agencies declaring “the wave of violence” was over and that Israelis could again freely move around the city.

The statement stressed, however, that due to continued concerns, citizens should “hide Israeli symbols” and exercise increased vigilance.

Hours after the more reassuring statement, the Kan public broadcaster said its reporter Michal Reshef and cameraman Micah Rizov had been trailed by a group of anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian youths after filming a segment in Amsterdam.

In a video published by Kan, Reshef said the group had approached them while shouting “Free Palestine” right before her live report from the city’s Dam Square but that they were “pushed back” by police.

After her broadcast, Reshef said the group “waited in an alley” before following her and Rizov as they were leaving, forcing them to enter a store for safety and to call police. The video ended with the officers arriving to escort them to safety.

Amsterdam police on Saturday said four people remained in custody after 63 people were initially detained over the riots.

Prosecutors said the four suspects include two minors, and that 40 additional people had been fined for public disturbance and 10 for offenses including vandalism.

They added that more arrests were expected.

But on Saturday evening, Dutch news outlet De Telegraaf reported that the country’s prosecutors had confirmed that none of the detainees were arrested during the riots, and that in fact, all but one had been apprehended before the match was over and before the attacks on the fans began.

This led to criticism from Geert Wilders, who heads the largest party in the Dutch government and is known for his anti-Islam stance.

A senior Israeli security official said Friday that Israeli security services had identified a “flare-up” on Dutch social media ahead of the game with calls by pro-Palestinian groups to hold a violent protest near the stadium.

“Due to this, the Mossad passed a warning to security services in the Netherlands with a request to immediately and significantly reinforce the security for Israelis in the area of the stadium and across the city, with an emphasis placed on hotels where the fans were known to be staying,” the official said.

However, he noted that Israel’s National Security Council had not been briefed on the threats and as such did not issue a warning to the public, including the some 3,000 fans who had traveled to see the match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax.

Hundreds of those fans were also filmed chanting racist slogans against Arabs before, during and after the game, and tearing down Palestinian flags, leading to claims by some Israel critics that Maccabi fans played a role in instigating the Thursday night violence.

The Israeli official noted that the attacks, which he said “spread like wildfire,” were apparently organized by Islamic elements in the Netherlands, and not by Iran, which has been accused of fomenting violent attacks on Israeli targets in other parts of Europe, particularly Sweden and Denmark.

The mayor of the Dutch capital on Friday banned demonstrations for three days and gave police emergency stop-and-search power after the attacks which she called “antisemitic hit-and-run squads” who managed to evade a force of around 200 officers.

Ajax is known as a soccer club with links to Amsterdam’s Jewish community because visiting fans had to pass the city’s Jewish quarter to get to the club’s former stadium. Ajax fans sometimes wave Star of David flags and chant the Dutch word for Jews.

A fresh round of violence broke out in Amsterdam on Monday night as rioters clashed with police amid a crackdown in the wake of last week’s attacks on Israeli soccer fans in the city.

Videos posted to social media show people shouting antisemitic slurs as a firework is lit inside a tram, shattering a window and causing the vehicle to go up in flames. Three people were arrested, police said.

Officers and a bus were pelted with stones, police said. One person in the group was injured by fireworks and treated at the scene.

The unrest began at around 7:15 p.m. local time and the area was largely calm by 11 p.m., although a police bus near the scene was set on fire around 3:30 a.m.

At around 9:30 p.m., a passing cyclist was pulled from his bike and attacked, receiving heavy blows to his head, police said. The suspect was detained immediately, while others threw stones at the officers.

The Dutch capital has been under emergency measures since last Friday, when Israeli soccer fans were beaten and injured in violent clashes in the city after a soccer game Thursday night between Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv and Dutch side Ajax.

Last weekend, horrible pictures from the attack on Israelis in Amsterdam were spread all over social media.

To understand the motivations behind the attacks, we spoke to Dr. Maya Sion-Tzidkiyahu, director of Mitvim’s Israel-Europe Relations Program and a lecturer at Hebrew University’s European Forum and Tel Aviv University’s European Union Studies Program.

What led to this violence?
"The violent attackers, for whom I can only condemn, who attacked the Israeli fans came from a particular population who were looking for certain people.

They were not looking for Jews; their attacks were directed against Israelis. It may be that some of them are indeed anti-Semitic, but what happened here is actually anti-Zionism or anti-Israelism.'

Sion-Tzidkiyahu continued, "There is no justification for violence. These rioters specifically sought revenge on the one who tore up the Palestinian flags and called for the death of the Arabs. The actions of those in Amsterdam are the result of anti-Israeli sentiment. There is a very sharp new anti-Semitism, but in Amsterdam, it was mainly anti-Israeli and anti-Zionist."

According to Sion-Tzidkiyahu, this conflict was due to the existence of the State of Israel and the military action carried out by the IDF in the Gaza Strip. Therefore, she clarified that in this case, they were not targeting non-Israeli Jews.

"As Israelis, we must understand how we are seen in Europe. After October 7, there was actually a pro-Israeli wave in the beginning, but a month into the war, the number of civilian casualties in Gaza caused a very large anti-Israeli wave. It is very easy to dismiss everything with the word 'anti-Semitism.'

"But as far as the Israeli government claims that this is anti-Semitism and the leaders of European countries agree that this is the case, the Israeli government endangers the fate of European Jews with anti-Semitism that really originates from anti-Israelism and anti-Zionism," said Sion-Tzidkiyahu.

“I don't disagree for a moment that these were violent demonstrations. There is indeed a danger of the deterioration of public order and security for Israelis and for the Jewish communities in Europe. The war in Gaza has become part of the political divide in Europe between the anti-Muslim nationalist right and the pro-Palestinian progressive left.

This conflict, she explained, has turned Israel into a proxy for European internal disputes.

Antwerp police arrested five people as part of proactive operations against a suspected “Jew hunt” following calls to action on social media, according to De Morgen.

A police spokesperson told De Morgen that five people had been put under administrative arrest on Sunday, a special form of arrest used in Belgium as a preventative measure rather than as part of a criminal investigation, which can last up to 12 hours.

All five were released from administrative arrest that night in accordance with Belgian law.

Calls for a 'Jew hunt'
After the Amsterdam pogrom, calls began to appear on social media from Thursday to Friday for local youth to organize a jodenjacht (Jew hunt).

The calls pushed the youth to target Antwerp’s Jewish Quarter, specifically meeting at Harmoniepark, just south of the city’s Jewish Quarter.

In order to avoid frightening the locals, police did not publicize the calls for violence in the neighborhood, according to The Brussels Times.

Police visibly patrolled the area on Sunday night, even going as far as launching a police drone to monitor the area.

Police checked groups behaving suspiciously. Anyone found in possession of flags, balaclavas, or other material that could point to imminent action risked an administrative arrest. The same applied to those who did not respond to police requests to leave the area.

The spokesperson also said that there were several minors among those arrested.

olice said that there were no incidents recorded on Sunday.

Police also identified the social media posts as belonging to a 17-year-old, who was detained and questioned. He was released after questioning.

Shmira, the local Jewish security patrol, was also active on Sunday with about 20 officers deployed, according to De Morgen.

Recent posts on social media have raised the fear of attacks on Jewish residents of Antwerp; however, De Morgen found that these posts largely date to before last week’s pogrom.

In one video, a young man can be seen being attacked and beaten as his attackers shout, “Free Palestine.” De Morgen confirmed that this video was dated to a few weeks ago and that the man has yet to file a police report. His mother told local media that the attackers were lying in wait for him.

In another video, a Jewish man cycling through central Antwerp was attacked. Antwerp Police confirmed they were investigating this incident.

Police said that at this time, no charges had been filed and encouraged anyone who was a victim of a hate crime to come forward and report it.

Outgoing Justice Minister Paul Van Tigchelt tried to reassure the Jewish community following the Amsterdam pogrom in a meeting on Sunday. He told them that the Belgian anti-terror service was working to stop copycat attacks.

“Can this happen in Belgium? The honest answer is: Why wouldn’t it happen here? We have to be realistic about that.”

The Brandeis Center's lawsuit accusing Harvard University of ignoring campus antisemitism will proceed to the discovery stage of proceedings - during which both parties gather and exchange relevant evidence - a step that the Brandeis Center hopes will bring to light revelations regarding the University's failings, The Algemeiner reported on Monday.

This comes despite the fact that last week, District Judge Richard Stearns dismissed claims that Harvard directly discriminated against Jewish and Israeli students but allowed them to pursue a case against Harvard for having made its campus unbearable for Jewish students to study in.

The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and Jewish Americans for Fairness in Education can, therefore, proceed with their hostile educational environment claim on behalf of Jewish students.

The claim focuses on Harvard professor Marshall Ganz, who refused to accept a project by Israeli students titled “Organizing: People, Power, Change” because they described Israel as a “liberal Jewish democracy.”

Ganz reportedly accused the Israeli students of "white supremacy" and later forced them to attend a class exercise on Palestinian solidarity, including the taking of a class photo in which their classmates wore keffiyehs.

Court documents mention worsening conditions for Jewish students post-Oct. 7
The court documents also mention the worsening situation for Jewish Harvard students in the aftermath of Hamas's attack on October 7.

Following the massacre, 31 student groups at Harvard issued a statement blaming Israel for the attack, student pro-Palestine groups occupied buildings, and the Harvard Law School student government passed a resolution accusing Israel of genocide.

Anna Joseph, a board member of Erev Rav, a Netherlands-based Jewish anti-Zionist organization, blamed Israeli fans for violent incidents surrounding the Ajax-Maccabi Tel Aviv UEFA Europa League match on Nov. 7.

She criticized the portrayal of criticisms against Israel as anti-Semitic and challenged the Dutch government and media's handling of the events.

Joseph also expressed concern over the Dutch authorities’ response, condemning the tendency to equate criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism.

"Israel and Judaism are different concepts. Israel is a state encompassing various religions and ethnicities, while Judaism is a religion. Conflating the two endangers both Jews and supporters of Palestinian rights," she said.

According to Joseph, the violent incidents began when Maccabi fans arrived in Amsterdam. “Israeli fans damaged property, tore down and burned Palestinian flags, assaulted a taxi driver, and chanted racist and pro-genocide slogans on public transportation," she said.

She noted that these incidents left Palestinians, Muslims and other minorities in Amsterdam feeling unsafe. Despite reports to the authorities, she claims no measures were taken to prevent the violence.

"The Dutch government and media framed violence initiated by Israeli fans as anti-Semitism against them, likening it to a pogrom. This was not a pogrom," Joseph said.

She accused the Dutch police of inaction and targeting Palestinian supporters rather than the disruptive fans, describing the approach as a "double standard."

Lack of Intervention

Joseph criticized Dutch police for what she viewed as delayed and inadequate responses to Israeli fans’ actions. "If Dutch police had intervened early in the week to stop Maccabi fans from being violent, the escalation at the end of the week might have been avoided," she asserted.

She said that Dutch authorities detained Palestinian supporters rather than the individuals causing disruptions. “The police targeted people other than Maccabi fans with arrests. Many people are hurt and angry, seeing the government’s actions as biased,” she added.

Joseph challenged the perception that the Jewish community in the Netherlands is under threat from Palestinian supporters. "Our organization has not received any threats. No one I know feels unsafe or has experienced anti-Semitic acts from Palestinians or Arabs," she said.

Joseph shared that most anti-Semitic incidents in the Netherlands come from white Dutch individuals, recalling an incident where a friend was verbally attacked by two Dutch men with an anti-Semitic slur.

"Anti-Semitism in the Netherlands is usually perpetrated by white Dutch people," she said, calling the notion that Palestinians are responsible "false." Joseph emphasized that she has always felt welcome at pro-Palestine demonstrations, which she described as inclusive and peaceful.

Media framing

She also criticized mainstream media for what she called "distorted" portrayals of events, accusing them of promoting a narrative that conflates criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism. "This isn't Jewish propaganda but Zionist propaganda. Zionism is support for Israel, and there are efforts to silence criticism of Israel by framing it as anti-Semitic,” she argued.

Referring to legislation in Germany that seeks to equate criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism, Joseph said, “This tactic pressures rights movements and Jewish voices that disagree with Israel’s actions. Many Jews stand in solidarity with Palestinians, advocating for their rights and opposing Israel’s policies.”

She added that Israel and Judaism should not be conflated, explaining that this confusion threatens both Jewish communities and Palestinian rights advocates. “As Israel’s policies become more violent, global hate crimes against Jews rise. We saw this pattern in 2014 during Israel’s incursion into Gaza, and we’re witnessing it again as Gaza faces new assaults.”

Joseph called on the Dutch government to reevaluate its stance on Israel if it aims to protect Jewish citizens. “If the Netherlands wants to protect Jews, it must stop supporting Israel’s actions in Gaza,” she urged.

Reflecting on the dangers of equating Judaism with Zionism, Joseph concluded, "When the Dutch government presents Israel and Judaism as synonymous, it endangers Jews. Our organization demands an end to Israel’s actions in Gaza, an end to Dutch arms support, and a clear distinction between religion and state."

Fans raised tensions

In the lead-up to the match, Israeli fan groups clashed with Palestinian supporters, tearing down Palestinian flags, assaulting Arab taxi drivers, and chanting offensive slogans. Videos from the scene showed fans chanting, “There are no schools in Gaza because there are no children left in Gaza,” during anti-Arab demonstrations near the stadium.

Dutch police detained 63 individuals linked to the incidents before and after the match.

Ghouls f****d around and found out.

It's a shame their actions likely resulted in other, innocent Jewish people also being harmed.

Yeah..yeah..yeah...FE your not suppose to word things like your generalizing ,bad sentiments towards a nation or race, I thought ?

Protesters gather in Bergenfield over Israel, West Bank real estate event

Not the same at all. The New Jersey event was a totally peaceful protest.