European Coalition for Israel joins world leaders in condemning antisemitic attacks in Amsterdam.

European Coalition for Israel (ECI) joined world leaders in condemning Friday what seems to have been well organised and coordinated antisemitic attacks on Israeli and Jewish football fans in Amsterdam late on Thursday evening, as they returned to their hotels after a football match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax of Amsterdam.

The attacks bring back collective memories of the Kristallnacht in Germany exactly 86 years ago on the 9th of November 1938 when Jews were attacked in a pogrom across territories controlled by Nazi Germany. Hundreds of Jews were killed whilst thousands of Jewish businesses and synagogues were smashed and burned, marking the opening salvo of what would become the Holocaust

In video recordings circulating on social media Israeli fans can be seen ambushed, kicked and beaten on the streets of Amsterdam as some took refuge in hotels while others were driven in to a river. As of Friday afternoon, five people had been taken to hospital and 62 arrests had been made.

The Dutch government coalition leader Geert Wilders called the attacks “a pogrom on the streets of Amsterdam where thugs with Palestinian flags were hunting down Jews.”

In a message to Israel’s President Isaac Herzog,  King Willem Alexander of the Netherlands said “we failed the Jewish community during the Holocaust and last night we failed them again.“

Meanwhile in the UK Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis called the event “a watershed moment for Europe and the world,” while other European leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron said that “the attacks reminds us of history’s darkest moments” and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that “anyone who attacks Jews attacks all of us.”

In a statement in Brussels, located just two hours south of Amsterdam, ECI Founding Director Tomas Sandell said:” It is a dark day in European history when the Israeli government has to consider sending military aircraft to Amsterdam to evacuate Israeli Jews.’’

‘’ If this modern-day pogrom does not wake up the political world in Europe to the dangers of antisemitism, nothing will,’’ he added.

‘’ It is our shared responsibility to keep Europe safe for Jews. European Coalition for Israel remains committed to working together with the EU institutions, national governments, Jewish organisations and the wider European civil society to combat antisemitism and ensure a future for Jewish life in Europe,’’ Sandell said.