Investigators Probing Whether Ride-Hailing Apps Were Used To Organize ‘Pogrom’ Attacks on Jews at Amsterdam

Many perpetrators of the pogrom at Amsterdam were ride-hailing drivers who used their rideshare apps to coordinate the attacks on Jewish fans of the Israeli soccer club Maccabi Tel Aviv who were visiting the Dutch capital, according to multiple reports. The chairman of the Central Jewish Council, which is a group of Dutch Jewish organizations, Chanan Hertzberger, said on Friday that the drivers, who were reportedly of Arab descent, used rideshare apps to plan the attacks and ensure that “harried football fans had no way to get to safety” after the violence broke out.“There even seems to be app traffic that shows that they meticulously prepared this pogrom, because that is what it was,” Mr. Hertzberger said. “They moved in groups, cornering their targets.”A pro-Israel activist, New York-based Lizzy Savetsky, also posted an interview she did with a man she identified as a chairman of the Maccabi World Union who said the attackers “used the Uber network…to organize themselves, they made Uber WhatsApp groups, and most of the attackers belonged to the Uber drivers network.”“It was well organized, it went over the Uber network,” he added. The Times of London reports law enforcement at Amsterdam are working with services such as Uber to investigate claims on social media that taxi and ride sharing drivers helped coordinate the violence. Investigators are probing whether drivers helped the attackers target Israelis by looking for accounts with numbers from Israel on ride sharing apps. The support account for Uber said on X the company is “shocked to hear of this abhorrent violence.” “Uber takes a zero-tolerance approach to discrimination, and while there were no reported incidents of violence or antisemitism on the Uber app, we’re actively supporting law enforcement as they work to identify the offenders,” it added. After a soccer match between the Israeli team and the Dutch team, Ajax, masked attackers ambushed the Israeli fans. Videos shared on social media showed the attackers, who appeared to be of Arab descent, kicking and beating Israelis. Others showed the attackers lighting fireworks and firing them off toward their victims.The attack left at least 30 Maccabi Tel Aviv fans injured and ten hospitalized. More than 62 people have been arrested in connection with the attack. The mayor of Amsterdam, Femke Halsema, called the attack an “explosion of antisemitism,” which occurred as there were commemorations underway of the 86th anniversary of Kristallnacht, which took place on November 9, 1938, across Germany, Austria, and parts of what’s now the Czech Republic.“Amsterdam is looking back on a black night and today is still a dark day. Antisemitic, hateful rioters and criminals yesterday and yesterday night have attacked Jewish visitors to our city,” Ms. Halsema said in a press conference on Friday. She also said the attackers were on “scooters driving through the town looking for Maccabi supporters. It was hit and run. Football fans were attacked and then rioters took off again.”Reports also indicated that the attackers searched for Israelis in hotels where they were believed to be staying. The king of the Netherlands, Willem-Alexander, referring to how Dutchmen notoriously turned in their Jewish neighbors to the Nazis during the German occupation, said his nation “failed the Jewish community of the Netherlands during the Second World War and last night we failed again.”Thursday’s violence comes amid an uptick in antisemitic incidents in the Netherlands. The European Jewish Congress reported in November 2023 that there was an 818 percent increase in antisemitic incidents in the Netherlands following Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel.

Investigators Probing Whether Ride-Hailing Apps Were Used To Organize ‘Pogrom’ Attacks on Jews at Amsterdam

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