The Amsterdam riots and the global intifada

One of the most poignant aspects of the Hamas-led massacre on October 7, 2023, which left 1,200 Israelis dead, was the glee with which Palestinian terrorists livestreamed their atrocities for the world to see. Just thirteen months later, Jews were back on social media confronted with images of an anti-Semitic rampage that shook Amsterdam on Thursday evening after a football match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax.

After the match, social media was flooded with videos of hundreds of jeering and cheering attackers as they plundered the city, throwing Israeli football fans into the river, beating them unconscious and forcing them to chant “liberate Palestine” before attacking them further. “Jewish, Jewish, IDF, IDF,” some shouted when they identified the Israelis. Although the Dutch authorities have done so arrested 62 suspectsthe shockwaves of this incident will not fade away easily.

“We disappointed Dutch Jewry during the Holocaust, and tonight we disappointed you again,” said the King of the Netherlands told Israeli President Isaac Herzog said this on Friday.

This was not the first riot against Jews since October 7. Just a year ago, the world witnessed an anti-Semitic outbreak in Russia’s North Caucasus, where mobs stormed an airport in Dagestan in pursuit of Jewish passengers arriving from Israel.

What makes the incident in Amsterdam particularly disturbing is that it did not take place in a remote, non-Western region, but in the heart of ‘enlightened’ Europe, in a city known for its progressive ideals and cultural sophistication. Even more disturbing is that the attack appears to have been premeditated and telegraphed, even though no one with the ability to stop the attack has done so.

On Friday, Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli said posted on X that his office had passed on several warnings to local Dutch authorities, who failed in their duty to protect citizens. On November 5, the Jerusalem Post reported that members of the Mossad – Israel’s national intelligence service – had accompanied the approximately 2,600 Israeli fans who had traveled to the Netherlands to provide additional security. This involvement encouraged some conspiratorial journalists to suggest the incident was a false flag operation garner support for Israel.

The Network Contagion Research Institute, a nonprofit organization that monitors the spread of emerging threats, revealed that several pro-Palestinian groups had coordinated the attack on platforms such as Instagram, WhatsApp and Telegram. In other words, the alarm bells sounded loud and clear, but no one listened.

Despite overwhelming evidence pointing to a premeditated attack, some US media tried to portray the violence as an escalation of a brawl between hostile football fans, claiming that Israeli fans had pulled down a Palestinian flag before the match and shouted anti-Arab slogans had sung. Even if it is true – and it is still unclear whether it is – nothing justifies the hordes of bloodthirsty attackers rampaging through a city and attacking anyone they suspect is Israeli. To suggest otherwise should be unthinkable in the 21st century. This is the West. People may say and do ugly things, but that will never justify the violence that happened last night.

From their side, Deborah Lipstadtthe US Special Envoy to Combat Anti-Semitism, and the US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew both condemned the attack. The events in Amsterdam could easily be repeated in the United States, where American Jews have faced rising anti-Semitism since October 7.

Last night, pro-Palestinian activists even tried to do that Comedian Michael Rapaport’s event in Chicago goes off the railsadvertising flyers that read: “Racists and Zionists are not welcome in our cities.” At the same time, pro-Palestinian groups in Bergenfield, New Jersey, which has a significant Jewish population intimidated the community by singing “intifada” and waving images of Adolf Hitler.

This follows more than a year of calls echoing across the US, from public squares to college campuses, where radical activists have chanted, “Globalize the intifada.” The Intifada has indeed become globalized.

The leap from ‘Zionists not welcome’ and Hitler images to events such as the Amsterdam disaster is not nearly as great as it seems. Just like in Amsterdam, the writing is on the wall in America. If only those in power would pay more attention. What happened in the Netherlands could easily happen in the United States. U.S. officials and law enforcement must remain vigilant before the horrors of Amsterdam make their way to the U.S

Photo by JEROEN JUMELET/ANP/AFP via Getty Images