The Dutch capital has become an effective no-go zone for Jews, who were the target of yet another round of antisemitic violence last night.
Violent pro-Palestine protesters—mostly young men, described by Germany’s Bild as “Jew haters”—took to Amsterdam, launching lit fireworks at cars, setting fire to a tram, and shouting “Kankerjoden,” which means “Cancer Jews.” Young people on scooters are also reported to have been actively seeking confrontation with police officers.
Footage of the chaos shared online appears to have been taken straight from a dystopian film.
Disorder lasted for hours, with some international papers suggesting that “hundreds” of rioters had erected barricades while chanting “free Palestine.”
It was a continuation of violence against Israeli football fans in Amsterdam last Thursday in an assault described as a “pogrom” and a “Jew hunt.” Other banned protests took place there over the weekend.
Israeli officials have since warned Israelis and Jews living in Europe to “categorically avoid” large events across the continent because of the threat of violence from pro-Palestine mobs. But we have also learnt that even youth football teams are not safe from this rising tide of antisemitism.
So it is no wonder that, more than 80 years after Nazi leaders coordinated a wave of antisemitic destruction in Germany, Europe’s papers are publishing stories on what they term “a new Kristallnacht.”
Attention is now increasingly turning to the Israel football team’s match against France in Paris this Thursday, for which thousands of police officers will be deployed.
