Waking up to the news that Israeli football fans were attacked last night on the streets of Amsterdam I felt sick. Properly, physically sick.
It’s strange, because I’m used to starting my day doom scrolling through Instagram, my feed filled with the latest updates on the plague of antisemitism that’s currently sweeping the globe. But this felt different. And it was.
People are calling it a pogrom. Does that feel extreme? I mean, BH there have been no confirmed deaths yet (although as I write, two Israelis are still unaccounted for). [UPDATE: Everyone has now been accounted for.] There were no rapes. Nothing seems to have been set on fire. I don’t want to give in to the hysteria and add to the distortion of terms such as this, so I’ve looked it up to try and make an informed decision. According to the Holocaust Encyclopaedia: “Pogrom is a Russian word meaning ‘to wreak havoc, to demolish violently’. Historically, the term refers to violent attacks by local non-Jewish populations on Jews in the Russian Empire and in other countries.” I guess I have to agree that, by that definition, it sounds about right. The Board of Deputies concurs. In a statement this morning they said: “Some have likened the situation there to a ‘pogrom’. On the basis of reports we have seen so far, it is hard to disagree.”
The echoes of our past are hard to face – for those of us who know it. Unfortunately, most of the gentile population don’t, so aren’t confronted by the uncanny vision of some of the worst moments of our history repeating in real time. The people and the chants may be different, but the streets and the violence are exactly the same.
One of the elements I’ve found most chilling has been the reports of how the Israeli fans were abandoned by the local authorities. One victim is quoted as saying: “We were all alone. I saw people on the floor, the police didn’t do anything to help us, police cars just drove by and saw it happening and did nothing.” Again, this is disturbingly reminiscent of pogroms’ past. Quoting the definition from the Holocaust Encyclopaedia again, it says: “The perpetrators of pogroms organised locally, sometimes with government and police encouragement.”
Offering an explanation for this, one social media news feed claims that “a large part of the police force in Amsterdam are 2nd-generation migrants from North Africa and the Middle East.” For those who’d like to believe this isn’t the source of the problem (wouldn’t we all), it shared a link to an article in the Jerusalem Post, written just last month, with the headline: Dutch police refuse to guard Jewish sites over 'moral dilemmas,' officers say. The article reports on statements made by Marcel de Weerd and Michel Theeboom, representing the Dutch Jewish Police Network, on anti-Jewish prejudice in the force. “There are colleagues who no longer want to protect Jewish targets or events. They talk about ‘moral dilemmas,’ and I see a tendency emerging to give in to that. That would truly mark the beginning of the end. I’m concerned about that,” Theeboom told Nieuw Israëlisch Weekblad.
The piece goes on: “The officers later spoke with De Telegraaf, where they said that some members of the police expressed they didn’t want to be deployed at the Dutch National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam and refused food and drinks from the venue.” Once again, it seems to be a case of “same same, but different”. As with the pogroms of the 19th century, in Amsterdam in 2024 the people attacking Jews and the authorities who should be protecting them are cut from the same cloth.
Of course, what has changed is that we now have Israel – a country of our own which, no matter your views on its current leaders, we know will never turn a blind eye when we are in need. IDF International Spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani, wrote: “The targeted attacks against Jews and Israelis in Amsterdam tonight, are horrific and barbaric. The images of the violence toward Jewish people in Europe are a painful reminder of our history. The IDF has an historic duty of protecting our people, wherever they are. We are preparing to deploy a mission to rescue Israelis from Amsterdam.”
Things may be bad. They may be reminiscent of days we thought were long behind us. But at times like this, it’s more important than ever to remember how – and why – they are different.
