As the Jewish world reeled from the aftermath of Thursday night’s attack on Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam, a Dutch Jew described to TPS how rioters stole an Israeli flag flying outside his home in the Dutch capital and burned it in the street.
The man spoke to TPS-IL on condition of anonymity saying he was concerned for his safety.
“As a Jewish family, with love for our people, heritage and homeland, we have always proudly flown the Israeli flag from that home. This was never a real problem. We’ve had slurs yelled at that home from time to time, but that is really the worst of it,” he explained to TPS-IL.
“Things have been taking a turn the past year though. Antisemitism has been getting worse, and it feels like it isn’t an ‘isolated incident here and there’ anymore, as many people often like to say,” he stressed. “It is everywhere. You can feel it. My wife is Israeli, and she always looks around before speaking Hebrew to our little daughter in public. That is the point it has come to.”
The rioters pulled down the flag and burned it.
“I feel sad, scared, angry and resentful. So many emotions, all at the same time,” he told TPS-IL.
“I don’t feel like the government is taking their job to protect us seriously. We’re just Jews after all, right? There are literally police officers here who refuse to protect Israelis because they are pro-“Palestine”. The mayor does nothing of substance to protect us. It is infuriating.”
Close to 30,000 Jews live in the Netherlands, and he said his family has lived in Amsterdam for hundreds of years.
“It used to be a safe haven, a place where people came to be free. Even after the Shoah [Holocaust], when the majority of my family was wiped out, my family stayed, and we rebuilt our lives and community. Maybe the time has come to leave though.
As for the flag, he said, “My father already ordered a bigger one.”
Around 3,000 Israeli soccer fans flew to Amsterdam to see the Maccabi Tel Aviv team play Ajax.
Video circulating on social media showed rioters carrying PLO flags and shouting “Free Palestine” attacked Israeli soccer fans after the game. Ten Israelis were injured and the Foreign Ministry said three remain unaccounted for.
Israeli nationals were warned to stay in their hotels and be prepared to leave the country on short notice. Police arrested more than 60 suspects, Dutch media reported.
Israel’s national airline said on Friday it received rabbinic permission to fly during the Sabbath to evacuate Israelis Amsterdam. The evacuation comes after rioters attacked Israelis in the Dutch capital for a soccer match.
“We failed the Jewish community during WWII, and last night we failed again,” Dutch King Willem-Alexander told Israeli President Isaac Herzog in a phone call. The king also promised to facilitate the safe return home of all the Israelis.
Israeli officials condemned the attack.
”Tomorrow we will mark the anniversary of the November 1938 Kristallnacht pogrom and it is very worrying to prove that 86 years have passed but once again we are witnessing an act of severe, initiated and planned violence against Jews taking place without hindrance,” said Danny Dayan, chairman of Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial and museum said.
