The Violence Isn’t Over in Amsterdam

Ed wrote a post last week about the riot in Amsterdam that targeted Jewish soccer fans. Here’s a bit of what the Times of Israel reported at the time.

Israeli soccer fans came under an apparently organized, widespread attack by anti-Israel rioters in Amsterdam Thursday night following a match. Dutch security forces appeared helpless to protect the tourists as they were ambushed by gangs of masked assailants who shouted pro-Palestiniian slogans as they hunted, beat and harassed the Israelis.

Israeli officials said 10 citizens were injured. Up to 10 people were at one point out of contact with their families, but by 3 p.m. Friday all were accounted for following the hours of overnight violence, apparently perpetrated largely by local Muslims and Arabs. Hundreds more people huddled in their hotels for hours, fearing they could be attacked again when trying to reach their flights home. …

Dutch authorities said by morning that the situation had calmed down.

Since then we’ve gotten a more detailed picture of what happened. The Israeli fans who came into town for the match outraged Muslims in the city by tearing down a Palestinian flag and burning it.

On Wednesday, some fans pulled a Palestinian flag from its perch on a downtown building and burned it in a city square, the police confirmed. A Muslim taxi driver’s car was attacked as he sat inside it, Mr. Khan said. A taxi’s dashcam video from Wednesday, verified by The Times, shows a man hitting the car with a long object. The police chief also said a cab had been vandalized that night.

After that attack, the police said, a call went out on Wednesday night for taxi drivers to mobilize, and cars began to gather outside the casino.

What followed was a kind of free-for-all where Muslims, some of them wearing masks, moved through the streets looking for Israelis and Jews to attack.

The attacks appear to have quickly escalated after the match. At least 12 videos verified by The Times depict groups of men questioning, chasing or beating people who were apparently targeted as Maccabi fans. In one video, a man is seen dragging another man, while a third curses at him…

Interviews with eyewitnesses and local officials, as well as screenshots of text exchanges over social media and online videos verified by The Times, suggest that the attackers specifically targeted both Israelis and Jewish people. Some victims reported being stopped and asked if they were Israeli or Jewish. Videos verified by The Times showed others being asked to show their passports, or trying to escape harm by saying they were not Jewish.

Some of the Jewish fans were not well-behaved but obviously there’s a big difference between tearing down a flag and running through the streets beating up Jews at random. There’s no equivalence between these two things and anyone suggesting there is has lost their mind. 

The Jewish soccer fans eventually flew home on planes organized by Israel to get them out of harm’s way. But the violence hasn’t ended. Last night it continued.

Clashes erupted just after 7 p.m. on Monday in western Amsterdam, where a tram was set on fire, windows smashed and police officers pelted with stones.

Videos posted to social media show that people shouted antisemitic slurs as a firework was lit inside the tram, shattering a window and causing the vehicle to go up in flames. Three people were arrested, police said. One person in the group was injured by fireworks and treated at the scene.

Later on Monday, a passing cyclist was pulled from his bike and attacked, receiving heavy blows to his head, police said, adding that the suspect was detained while other rioters threw stones at the officers.

Here’s video of the tram:

In Amsterdam yesterday night, a group of individuals shouted “Cancer Jews” while setting the tram on fire.

This display of antisemitism and violence is appalling.

We must not tolerate this growing wave of hate. pic.twitter.com/J9HBTe668t

— European Jewish Congress (@eurojewcong) November 12, 2024

Dutch politician Geert Wilders condemned the politicians he said were now crying crocodile tears.

Al die partijen die jarenlang regeerden en onze grenzen wagenwijd open hebben laten staan moeten zich kapotschamen. Ze huilen nu krokodillentranen maar zijn geheel verantwoordelijk voor de import en groei van al die walgelijke jodenhaat.

— Geert Wilders (@geertwilderspvv) November 10, 2024

It reads:

All those parties that governed for years and left our borders wide open should be ashamed of themselves. They are now shedding crocodile tears but are entirely responsible for the import and growth of all that disgusting Jew-hatred.

This morning police warned they were expecting yet another night of violence.

Amsterdam police chief Olivier Dutilh said his force was preparing for another turbulent night on Tuesday. “There are calls for similar situations in Amsterdam West this evening. It’s happening right now. There are calls: women and children stay at home. That worries us.”

As I write this it is just after midnight, i.e. early Wednesday morning, in Amswerdam. So far I’m not seeing any reports of fresh violence but maybe we’ll see those tomorrow.