'A new Kristallnacht': Jewish, Israeli figures express horror over Amsterdam pogrom

The President of United Haztalah, Eli Beer said, "This is what happens when terrorists are allowed into Europe." 

By MATHILDA HELLER NOVEMBER 8, 2024 09:06

Supporters of Maccabi Tel Aviv hold flags at Dam square ahead of the Europa League football match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv, in Amsterdam on November 7, 2024. (photo credit: JEROEN JUMELET/ANP/AFP via Getty Images)

Israeli leaders and international Jewish figures have reacted with horror to the scenes of violent antisemitism that unfolded in Amsterdam on Thursday night following a Maccabi TLV-Ajax soccer match.

The pogrom against Israeli fans, which resulted in multiple wounded and three missing, is now apparently under control, according to Dutch officials.

The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) called the attacks on Israeli soccer fans "a new Kristallnacht."

“Exactly 86 years after Kristallnacht, when Nazis, along with ordinary Germans hunted Jews through the streets of Europe, we see their ideological heirs rampaging through the streets of Amsterdam once again seeking to spill Jewish blood,” said CEO of CAM Sacha Roytman Dratwa.

“Thousands of Islamists, who are today's neo-Nazis in ideology and action, in a clearly premeditated and organized fashion, targeted Jews in what feels to many as a loud echo from history.”

Dratwa stressed a difference between 1939 and today: the State of Israel.

Pro-Palestinians demonstrate at Amsterdam's Anton de Komplein square ahead of the UEFA Europa League football match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv on November 7, 2024. (credit: JEROEN JUMELET/ANP/AFP via Getty Images)

"The Jews won't wait around like they did in '39," Dratwa added. "They'll leave, leaving you to deal with the extremism that has been allowed to fester."

Jews first, West next

Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir expressed a similar sentiment, writing that “This is not only an injury to Jews and Israelis, but a warning sign to all European countries against radical Muslim violence. Those who turn a blind eye to Islamic terrorism in the Middle East will meet it at home in Europe and the West."

"Today, the victims were Israelis; tomorrow it will be you Europeans."

The President of United Haztalah, Eli Beer, said, "This is what happens when terrorists are allowed into Europe." 

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"Tonight, in central Amsterdam, young Jews were attacked by Palestinians, facing attempted lynching. The police were absent or arrived too late. This is happening in the heart of Europe, and it’s only the beginning. In Israel, we confront this daily, but now it’s spreading to Europe."

Israel's Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon addressed the situation, calling for the UN to condemn the pogrom.

"These are the true faces of the supporters of the radical terrorism we are fighting," he wrote.

"The western world needs to wake up now!! This is the time when the UN should immediately and clearly condemn the violence of the Palestinians and their supporters. The Dutch authorities must take decisive action against terrorism now."

Former War Cabinet minister Benny Gantz said that the pogrom "penetrates the soul of every Jew, with difficult images that remind us of dark and painful days."

He asked the Dutch government to do everything it could to protect Israelis with all the means at its disposal against the antisemitic terrorists.

Shir Perets contributed to this report.