Dutch Authorities Pass the Guilder on Antisemitic Violence at Amsterdam, as Attention Turns to Iran’s Role in the Riots

Violence escalated at Amsterdam overnight Monday as rioters set a city tram ablaze just days after mainly Muslim hooligans attacked Israelis in the streets after a soccer match. Videos of the attack posted to social media appeared to include antisemitic epithets that were shouted as the tram was torched.The fire was quickly extinguished — but the tiny Netherlands remains in the grips in one of its biggest domestic political crises since the Nazis occupied the country during World War II. It was not immediately clear if the tram was targeted because of the presumed identities of any of the passengers on board, but it appeared that no one was hurt. On Thursday night, ten Israelis were injured in a wave of antisemitic violence that bore the hallmark of a modern-day pogrom, setting off alarm bells across Europe. On the national level some Dutch politicians, such as the president of the Party for Freedom, Geert Wilders, were quick to call out the perpetrators of last week’s attack. Mr. Wilders said it was a “Jew hunt” and expressed shame “that this can happen in the Netherlands.” Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, said on Monday at Jerusalem that Israel considered the number of arrests made so far — 62 at last count — to be “very low.” This comes as Amsterdam city officials appeared to downplay the role of Arabic and North African hooligans, the immigration status of some remaining unclear, in the attacks. On Tuesday Amsterdam city’s council declared in a letter that the attacks on Maccabi soccer fans that briefly turned the city’s Dam Square into a combat zone were “a poisonous cocktail of anti-Semitism, hooliganism, and anger about the war in Palestine and Israel and other countries in the Middle East.” That letter, signed by Amsterdam’s mayor, Femke Halsema, was also penned on behalf of the Dutch police. According to a Dutch morning newspaper, De Telegraaf, the language emphasized “both the anti-Semitism of the attackers and the provocative and violent behavior of Maccabi hooligans.” Furthermore, the city council appeared to shift the responsibility for failing to anticipate Thursday’s attacks to the country’s National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security, or NCTV. The mayor wrote that “all conceivable measures” to keep possible risks “manageable were discussed” and that “there was no reason to cancel the match or to refuse Israeli fans.” The mayor added, however, that “the NCTV saw no objection and gave no additional advice. The police were also not informed by the NCTV about a possible threat at or around this match.”If that sounds like so much passing of the guilder, it gets worse: Ms. Halsema appeared to create a sense that an aura of revenge against the attackers was afoot: “Jewish Amsterdammers do not become safer if Moroccan and Islamic Amsterdammers become less safe and less free. On the contrary,” she wrote.That left-wing language of appeasement is too much for even the left-wing Haaretz. Writing in that newspaper, Israeli professor Sefy Hendler stated that “Anyone who tries to obfuscate the identity of the people behind the pogrom or the facts, which are supported by victims’ testimonies and videos posted by rioters on social media, in the horrific pattern of October 7, is turning a blind eye to the real world.”“While those responsible for the pogrom in Amsterdam are first and foremost the hooligans who chased Maccabi Tel Aviv fans in the streets of the city,” he added, “others responsible for these shameful spectacles, 80 years after Kristallnacht, are the authorities in the Netherlands, who ignored clear warnings that Muslims were preparing to harm Jews and Israeli citizens.”Images of Arab and North African youths throwing firecrackers at visitors and sowing chaos in the streets of Amsterdam on Thursday and again on Monday while shouting antisemitic epithets have already badly bruised Amsterdam’s reputation as a safe city. Its economy is heavily dependent on tourism — but failing to address the roots of the violence may carry an even higher cost and hamper the authorities’ ability to handle further threats. They may yet come. The head of the European Jewish Congress, Ariel Muzicant, points to the role of Tehran as instigator. Mr. Muzicant told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica that “ten days ago I spread an alarm to the European Jewish communities: Iran is planning destabilizing actions in Europe.”“I have no direct information from the [intelligence] services,” he stated, “but I observe that Iranian cultural institutes and embassies are strengthening — and that in Europe there are more and more accidents that could bear that imprint. It is known for certain that the attacks on Israeli consulates in Denmark and Sweden were carried out by common criminals hired by Iran.”The Sun reached out to a member of Sweden’s parliament, Alireza Akhondi, for comment about the credibility of the Iranian threat. Does he think that Iran has had a role in some of the violence already seen in the Netherlands? “Yes, I believe that,” he said.That suspicion is shared by Sweden’s security service.“For Tehran, also under attack in Lebanon,” Dr. Muzicant also stated, “Europe is a weak link. The ayatollahs say it clearly. Since they succumb in Lebanon and Gaza, they must look for targets elsewhere.”

Dutch Authorities Pass the Guilder on Antisemitic Violence at Amsterdam, as Attention Turns to Iran’s Role in the Riots

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