Arabs living in Amsterdam chased Jews through the streets after a pro-Palestinian protest, spurred by a soccer match involving an Israeli team, devolved into a scene resembling a “pogrom,” according to reports and shocking videos.
Video posted by the Instagram account week.4palestinenl showed someone struggling to stay afloat in a river, as a man orders him, “Say ‘free Palestine’ and we go.” The man, who had seemingly been in thrown in the river, acquiesced, and his tormenter said “good.”
The group posted alongside the video, “A zionist got a free swimming lesson… Who’s street? Oh yeah, our street.”
The NL Times reported that the group Week 4 Palestine planned a protest in Amsterdam’s Dam Square over the Israeli soccer team Maccabi Tel Aviv playing Amsterdam’s Ajax team, but that the city’s mayor Femke Halsema banned the protest, citing the potential for “violent confrontations.”
But “rioting broke out when several other groups of people chanted pro-Palestinian slogans at the Israeli fans,” the paper said. Some arrests were made, but police would not say whether they were pro-Palestinian activists or others, it added.
The Week 4 Palestine Instagram account posted videos of its members marching with torches and wrapped in Palestinian flags. It said, “When people stand up against genocide and want to speak out against the zionist state of Israhell, @burgemeesterfemkehalsema chooses to silence them and sends the riot police against demonstrators while IOF and the Mossad are given free rein in the city of Amsterdam.”
The group also posted videos of Arab men knocking over security barriers, captioned “There is no normal life when a genocide is happening in Gaza.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the attacks by sending two airplanes to Amsterdam in order to pull Israelis safely out of the city.
A statement from the prime minister’s office stated: “The harsh pictures of the assault on our citizens in Amsterdam will not be overlooked. Prime Minister Netanyahu views the horrifying incident with utmost gravity and demands that the Dutch government and security forces take vigorous and swift action against the rioters, and ensure the safety of our citizens.”
“There is a pogrom currently taking place in Europe in 2024,” Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, wrote on X Thursday night, alongside a video of an Arab man chasing another man through the streets. “The Dutch authorities must take decisive action against terrorism now.”
We are receiving very disturbing reports of extreme violence against Israelis and Jews on the streets of Holland. There is a pogrom currently taking place in Europe in 2024.
These are the true faces of the supporters of the radical terrorism we are fighting. The western world… pic.twitter.com/LwMC6q1Grf— Danny Danon 🇮🇱 דני דנון (@dannydanon) November 8, 2024
Naftali Bennett, a former prime minister of Israel, said, “At this very moment in Amsterdam, Jews are being attacked at multiple locations with brutal force. It’s a pogrom in action. I call upon the Dutch authorities, the Amsterdam authorities, to act immediately to prevent further injury and to prevent the loss of lives.”
At this moment Jews are being attacked in multiple locations in Amsterdam.
I call upon the Dutch authorities to act NOW. pic.twitter.com/VZtLNw45KH
— Naftali Bennett נפתלי בנט (@naftalibennett) November 8, 2024
U.S. Congressman Brad Sherman (D-California) said on X: “This is outrageous. The government of the #Netherlands must protect Jews from these attacks and prosecute the assailants.”
