Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters converged on Amsterdam on Sunday as the Dutch city unveiled the National Holocaust Museum in a ceremony attended by Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
Riot police were forced to be deployed to hold back over 2,000 anti-Israel protesters as they attempted to march on the Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam during the opening of the new National Holocaust Museum.
AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS – MARCH 10: People stage a pro-Palestinian demonstration during the opening of the Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands on March 10, 2024. (Photo by Mouneb Taim/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Demonstrators were seen waving Palestinian flags, carrying signs accusing Israel of “genocide” in Gaza, and calling for Israeli President Herzog to be tried at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes, Dutch public broadcaster NOS reported. Clashes with the police were also witnessed, while some activists were seen climbing on top of police vehicles.
According to the De Telegraaf newspaper, the activists also took to shooting fireworks and throwing eggs at the police. They also were seen plastering stickers on police vans with the face of Herzog with the text “wanted”.
King Willem-Alexander, who gave a speech at the opening ceremony held at the synagogue, was booed as he officially opened the museum’s building.
Dutch King Willem-Alexander reacts as he addresses a speech during an opening ceremony for the National Holocaust Museum, at the Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam, on March 10, 2024. (Photo by Bart Maat / ANP / AFP) / Netherlands OUT (Photo by BART MAAT/ANP/AFP via Getty Images)
For his part, President Herzog used the occasion to once again call upon Hamas in Gaza to release the hostages taken from Israel during the October 7th terror attacks by the jihadist Palestinian group.
“Let’s pray in this house of prayer for the release of the hostages,” Herzog said.
During his speech, the Israeli president invoked World War II, saying that too many people in the Netherlands stood by as Jews were being gathered up to be exterminated. However, Herzog also praised the courage of the people who resisted the Nazis, recounting an instance of two Dutch citizens who risked their lives by hiding Jews.
Herzog said that after the war, the Jews housed by the Dutch later moved to Israel and that their grandson died fighting to protect the Jewish state.
The Israeli president’s presence at the unveiling of the museum drew the ire of local activists, who accused him of war crimes over his country’s military response to the October 7th terror attacks, in which Hamas terrorists slaughtered around 1,200 people in Israel and took hundreds more captive.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog (C) delivers a speech during an opening ceremony for the National Holocaust Museum, at the Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam, on March 10, 2024. (Photo by Bart Maat / ANP / AFP) / Netherlands OUT (Photo by BART MAAT/ANP/AFP via Getty Images)
Emile Schrijver, the head Jewish Cultural Quarter, which the museum belongs to, said that while he understood some of the criticism against Israel, he did not “want to exclude all those people who this museum is about. This museum is about the murder of Dutch Jews.”
Schrijver noted that Herzog, as president of Israel, represents thousands of Jews who hailed from the Netherlands before moving to Israel after the Second World War, adding: “There are still 800 Holocaust survivors living in Israel and we want those people to feel represented.”