


A family of Israeli tourists was attacked at a holiday park in the Netherlands Thursday evening, days after local anti-Israel groups posted videos online of Israeli tourists at another park and “called for action against them,” Israel’s embassy in The Hague said Friday, though local police reportedly says the victims’ nationality was not the cause for the attack.
Two victims of the attack at Center Parcs De Kempervennen, near Eindhoven, required hospitalization, and one suspect was detained, the embassy said in a Dutch-language statement, adding that “it is assumed that multiple suspects were involved.”
The embassy, whose building was defaced last week, added that this is the latest in a series of attacks on Israelis visiting the Netherlands.
“We expect the Dutch authorities to take all necessary measures to protect Israelis and Jews in the Netherlands. Intimidation and violence against individuals because of their background is unacceptable,” the embassy said.
Dutch media identified the hospitalized Israelis as a 37- and 41-year-old, one of whom suffered a head wound, and the detained suspect as a 15-year-old boy.
According to local newspaper Eindhovens Dagblad, the violence took place amid a paintball game between the Israeli tourists and another group, and police said the Israelis’ nationality was not the reason for the attack.
However, the outlet said “discriminatory and threatening slogans were shouted during the altercation,” and quoted a Dutch Jewish community group that was in contact with the victims as saying they were deliberately attacked because they were Israeli.
Days before the attack, several Dutch activists and groups posted videos of Israeli tourists at a different Center Parcs resort, and called on their followers to “take action” against “citizens of the Zionist Entity.”
The Israeli Foreign Ministry called on the Dutch government “to come to its senses and act resolutely to prevent attacks on Israelis in its territory, to locate the criminals and to bring them to justice.”
“Once again, Israelis are being attacked in the Netherlands,” the ministry said, alluding to the violence against Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam last November.
In recent weeks, Israeli tourists have experienced several high-profile anti-Israel incidents, including attacks and protests, as international anger grows over Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza. A poll published earlier this month found a majority of Israelis fear they won’t be able to travel abroad due to mounting global criticism of the Jewish state.