In Europe, pogroms are back in vogue.
Dozens of Israeli soccer fans were attacked in Amsterdam on Thursday night in what the king of the Netherlands described as an antisemitic crime. The brazen assault shows that rising antisemitism is a global problem that the West must reckon with.
Israeli fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv FC were in Amsterdam to watch a Europa League soccer match between their team and AFC Ajax. All was well until they were beset by anti-Israel rioters in an “apparently organized, widespread attack,” according to the Times of Israel. The assailants were reportedly masked and yelling a “pro-Palestinian slogan as they hunted, beat, and harassed Israelis.”
Dozens were reportedly injured. Many Israelis were forced to hide, sheltering in their hotel rooms. Footage of the attacks circulated online, with many attackers filming themselves brutally beating the Israeli soccer fans.
For its part, the Israeli government set up a hotline and issued instructions for tourists to seek shelter and avoid displaying any Jewish or Israeli symbols on the street. But it’s sadly telling that this can happen in Europe in 2024. In a major European city, Jews were beaten and forced to hide themselves and their Jewishness.
There’s a very dark trend on display here.
It is notable that the attacks occurred in Amsterdam, where, eight decades ago, a young Jewish girl, Anne Frank, hid from the Nazis. Frank later died at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. In recent times, an Anne Frank statue in Amsterdam has repeatedly been vandalized with anti-Israeli graffiti. And the assault on Israeli tourists unfolded 86 years after Kristallnacht, the Nazi-orchestrated pogrom in which thousands of Jews and Jewish businesses were attacked in what many historians consider to be a prelude to the genocide of European Jewry.
Regardless, that pogroms are unfolding once again on European soil is a matter of everlasting shame. It is also a lesson for the West, and both policymakers and press would be wise to imbibe it. What unfolded in Amsterdam in 2024 can happen elsewhere.
Since the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack on Israel, the West has been beset with anti-Israel marches and protests. From college campuses to city streets, we’ve seen protesters chanting antisemitic slogans and calling for the genocide of Jews and the destruction of Israel. Far too often, however, many policymakers have shown themselves to be, at best, inept in handling the threat. Some members of Congress, notably the so-called “Squad,” have praised these demonstrations. Others, including many local officials, have too often been silent.
This is unacceptable. History is clear: What starts in the Middle East doesn’t stay in the Middle East. And what begins with the Jews doesn’t end with the Jews. Policymakers at all levels need to do more than talk about this looming problem. While protecting the First Amendment, they need to act to ensure civil rights are protected and criminals face prosecution.
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As the late Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel famously said, “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”
The time for silence and all of its complicity is over.
The writer is a senior research analyst for CAMERA, the 65,000-member, Boston-based Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis