November 7, 2024 by Dr. Susanna Kokkonen
Holocaust Remembrance Association strongly condemns the vicious attack against Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Holocaust Remembrance Association reminds friends and supporters that the attack happened on the eve of the Kristallnacht of 1938. This connection serves to demonstrate a sad continuity in antisemitism. This means that our mission is current and much needed.
November 7, 2024
The November 1938 Night of Broken Glass was a time of terror and attacks against the Jews in Nazi Germany. On the eve of Kristallnacht’s commemoration 2024, the soccer teams Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax Amsterdam confronted each other. Fans had arrived at the game from Israel. What followed was a terrible attack on these Israelis. The information comes from multiple international media outlets as well as private videos people were shooting as the attack went on. Everything happened in full view in the streets of Amsterdam.
According to all testimonies, exit from the stadium went well at the end of the match when the police escorted the Israeli fans out. But afterwards the police left them alone with no security. Pro-Palestinian gangs of young men and even scooters accosted them, as eyewitnesses have described. Horrific videos soon emerged from Amsterdam. Videos show for instance how people were lying on the ground and were repeatedly kicked.
An Israeli fan later told media outlets that people approached him and told him not to speak Hebrew. He was told that “people are looking for Israelis”. Many Israeli fans managed to escape to a hotel. Reports specifically mention a Druze Israeli who managed to confuse some of the attackers speaking fluent Arabic. This helped some Israelis to flee.
But this chaotic incident showed the kind of violence that has not been seen in the streets of Europe for some time. Some media outlets have chosen to speak about soccer-related violence. Some have described an incident of two sides confronting each other.
But details emerged showing cab drivers who were communicating with each other to coordinate the attack in real time. The social media platform Telegram also closed accounts used in coordinating the attack. Not only was this an antisemitic attack. It was planned ahead of time and then executed.
It is important to know that reports have come out of Israeli officials having warned their counterparts in the Netherlands about potential attacks. Israel’s Ministry for Diaspora Affairs found a video posted by a Dutsch Palestinian group under title “No Zionists in UEFA/FIFA”. The post specifically emphasized that no Palestinian flags should be visible in a violent clash planned against Israelis. Mossad warned its counterparts as well as the Dutsch police about the need to reinforce security at hotels, stadium and around Israel’s fans. But the threat was underestimated.
Antisemitism
Antisemitic mass-demonstrations against Israel started very soon after October 7. These, the occupations of college campuses and schools, and many other incidents have prepared the way for violent attacks. Hostility is such that many Jews refrain from wearing any Jewish symbols in public. As we have said before it is no longer possible to recount all the antisemitic harassment and attacks taking place all over America and other nations daily.
All these developments were extremely troubling in themselves but now we have seen how they paved the way for violence. If any society allows antisemitism in its midst, it will eventually change. Even a democratic society will then witness violence and insecurity. The impact is grave, and we need to move quickly to nip antisemitism at its bud.
Dutsch authorities have remained cautious about giving out details of the assailants although they made arrests. The King of the Netherlands Willem-Alexander said: “…we must not look away from anti-Semitic behavior on our streets… we failed the Jewish community of Netherlands during WWII, and last night we failed again.”
It is time to say Never Again!
The Holocaust Rememrance Association exists to remember, reconcile, and take a stand against antisemitism in all its forms.
