Opinion
Amsterdam was vile, but no pogrom – and it’s important to say so
In a world full of exaggeration and conspiracy theories, we must uphold lucidity and truth
November 10, 2024 12:52
3 min read
I imagine most readers of the JC would describe the loss of civilian life in Gaza as tragic casualties of war – not genocide. And that while the loss of a single innocent human life is one too many – that whatever statistic Hamas quotes and its BBC stooges repeat, is mendacious.
So we should be equally clear that last Thursday's attack on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans was a vile and pre-meditated attack – but not a pogrom. Six people got hospitalised but thankfully, nobody got murdered. Israel realised it did not need to send military rescue planes; but got the fans home by normal scheduled airlines instead.
What's more, it is offensive to the memory of those who were murdered in Germany, Austria and Sudetenland 86 years ago yesterday, to liken Amsterdam to Kristallnacht. Kristallnacht saw many hundreds of Jews murdered (not the 91 so frequently misquoted); 267 synagogues burnt to the ground; 7000+ Jewish businesses looted and/or destroyed; and 30,000 Jewish men put into concentration camps.
In a febrile world where exaggeration, narcissism and conspiracy theory are so fashionable, it credits the morality of the Jewish people when we uphold lucidity, calm and truth. Amsterdam was not a "pogrom". It was more like the pre-planned assaults of 1970s and 80s British football hooligans. Leaders of thuggish gangs like West Ham's InterCity Firm, Millwall's F Troop and Leicester City's Baby Squad would meet in pubs long in advance of the game to plan their moves. Then they would 'jump' the fans of the opposing team to 'give them a good kicking'. It was sickening. As a Chelsea fan in the 80s, I did not hugely enjoy coming out of a League Cup game and being chased by Liverpool fans into a nearby cemetery. But I was not killed. I was not ethnically cleansed – how could I be ethnically cleansed from Liverpool, when I didn't live there in the first place? It's the same with Maccabi Tel Aviv fans visiting Amsterdam (although of course, fans of the team they played, Ajax fans are unlikely to have been involved, as they are traditionally a ‘Jewish’ team, and taunted as such by other Dutch football fans).
I was saddened to see even luminaries like Deborah Lipstadt describe Amsterdam as a pogrom. As the People of the Book, we know that words matter. In my previous life in advertising, I've helped coin a few phrases myself, like "Every Little Helps" and "The World's Local Bank". I have always believed that even when selling a product, you should tap into something truthful and beneficial. That is all the more so when advocating for a cause. The best recipe for long term popularity and success is to tell the truth extremely well. We do ourselves a disservice when we distort and exaggerate.
Just before you start forming the impression I am an appeasenik... let me disabuse you. We are in a global war. The target is Western civilisation; the frontline is Jews, everywhere. This war is asymetric and repugnant in its deceit. When we distort and exaggerate, we rob ourselves of a crucial weapon with which to defeat our enemy. The real enemy is the Red-Green axis of nihilists on the Hard Left and extreme end of Islamism who seek destruction not creation. But they have an indispensable ally, without whom they cannot win. The Woke Brigade.
Arguably the greatest task facing Western civilisation is to speak truth to the power that gags it. Wokeism weakens our esprit de corps. It denigrates the whole in pursuit of the niche. It promotes shaming and ranting over inspiring and communing. It promotes an atmosphere of blame and nastiness that saps our morale and our will. Above all, it perverts reality. It forbids us calling a spade a spade.
When we histrionically exaggerate, we descend to the same level. When we stick to truth, we create something mighty. The ability to speak truth to the infantile but rampaging march of Woke power. It has paralysed our police forces from arresting evil. It has deterred our political leaders from meaningful policies of social cohesion and integration. The lunatics are running the asylum and have let in the mob who will – make no mistake – conquer and kill.
Who were the pre-planned perpetrators of Amsterdam? The indications are that they came from Muslim, immigrant backgrounds. What do they – or at least their manipulators – ultimately want? The domination of their beliefs and culture at the direct expense of everyone else in the society they cohabit.
There. I've said it. I hope that by being sanguine and honest about what Amsterdam was NOT, I earn the opportunity to be sanguine and honest about who and what – in the long term, Europe and its Jewish frontline is truly up against.
I urge you to say the same.
Marc Cave is the director of the National Holocaust Museum