Dutch populist leader Geert Wilders has condemned what appeared to be an organized, widespread targeted attack by anti-Israel rioters in Amsterdam on Thursday night, branding it a “pogrom” on the streets of the capital.
As Breitbart News reported, Dutch security forces appeared unable to protect the tourists as they were ambushed by roaming gangs of masked attackers who shouted “Free Palestine” as they hunted, beat and brutally harassed the Israelis.
The targeted violence came after the local Ajax soccer team defeated Israel’s visiting Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Wilders took to social media site X – formally known as Twitter – to voice his disapproval, writing:
Looks like a Jew hunt in the streets of Amsterdam. Arrest and deport the multicultural scum that attacked Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters in our streets. Ashamed that this can happen in The Netherlands. Totally unacceptable.
He followed up that public statement of his disgust by calling for immediate action:
A pogrom in the streets of #Amsterdam.
We have become the Gaza of Europe.
Muslims with Palestinian flags hunting down Jews.
I will NOT accept that. NEVER.
The authorities will be held accountable for their failure to protect the Israeli citizens.
Never again.
The Times of Israel reports ten Israelis were hospitalized and three were out of contact with their families following the hours of overnight violence.
The outlet observed the attack “apparently perpetrated largely by local Muslims and Arabs, with hundreds more people reportedly besieged in their hotels and fearing they could be attacked again when trying to reach their flights home.”
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof denounced the “unacceptable antisemitic attacks on Israelis.”
He added he had spoken with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu to assure him that “the perpetrators will be tracked down and prosecuted.”
The U.S. envoy to counter antisemitism issued a statement denouncing the attacks. Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt said:
Horrified by the attacks tonight in Amsterdam, which are terribly reminiscent of a classic pogrom.
I am also deeply disturbed by how long the reported attacks lasted and call on the government to conduct a thorough investigation into security force intervention and on how these despicable attacks transpired.
“In a terrible historical irony, this is happening two days before the grim anniversary of Reichspogromnacht in 1938, when Nazi-sanctioned and led pogroms against Jews erupted across the German Reich,” she added, referring to Kristallnacht.
Israel President Isaac Herzog called the attacks “a warning sign for any country that wishes to uphold the values of freedom.”
“We woke up this morning to shocking images and videos that since October 7th, we had hoped never to see again: an antisemitic pogrom,” he wrote on X.
In this image taken from video, pro-Palestinian supporters march with Palestinian flags near the Ajax stadium in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024, before they clashed with visiting Israeli fans. (AP Photo InterVision)
Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, also expressed its disgust at the unprovoked attack on Jews following the Maccabi Tel Aviv game.
“The distressing images from this pogrom serve as a stark reminder of the persistent threat posed by antisemitism to our communities,” it said in a statement.
Authorities said extra police would patrol Amsterdam in coming days, and security will be beefed up at Jewish institutions in the city that has a large Jewish community and was home to Jewish World War II diarist Anne Frank and her family as they hid from Nazi occupiers.
The violence erupted despite a ban on a pro-Palestinian demonstration near the soccer stadium imposed by Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema, who had feared clashes would break out between anti-Israel protesters and supporters of the Israeli soccer club.