The Amsterdam Riots and the Global Intifada

One of the most harrowing aspects of the Hamas-led massacre on October 7, 2023, which claimed the lives of 1,200 Israelis, was the glee with which the Palestinian terrorists livestreamed their atrocities for the world to see. Just 13 months later, Jews on social media were once again confronted with footage of an anti-Semitic rampage, one that shook Amsterdam on Thursday evening, following a soccer match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax.

After the game, social media was flooded with videos of hundreds of jeering and cheering attackers marauding through the city, throwing Israeli soccer fans into the river, beating them unconscious, and forcing them to chant “free Palestine” before assaulting them further. “Jewish, Jewish, IDF, IDF,” some shouted as they identified the Israelis. Though Dutch authorities have arrested 62 suspects, the shockwaves from this incident will not fade easily.

“We disappointed Dutch Jewry during the Holocaust, and tonight, we disappointed you again,” the King of the Netherlands told Israel’s president Isaac Herzog on Friday.

This was not the first riot against Jews since October 7. Just a year ago, the world witnessed an anti-Semitic outbreak in Russia’s North Caucasus region, where mobs stormed an airport in Dagestan in pursuit of Jewish passengers arriving from Israel.

What makes the Amsterdam incident particularly disturbing is that it did not occur in some distant, non-Western region but in the heart of “enlightened” Europe, in a city known for its progressive ideals and cultural sophistication. Even more troubling is that the attack appears to have been premeditated and telegraphed, yet nobody with the ability to stop it did so.

On Friday, Israel’s Minister of Diaspora Affairs, Amichai Chikli, posted on X that his office had relayed multiple warnings to local Dutch authorities, who failed in their duty to protect civilians. On November 5, the Jerusalem Post reported that members of Mossad—Israel’s national intelligence agency—had accompanied the approximately 2,600 Israeli fans who traveled to the Netherlands to provide additional security. This involvement spurred some conspiratorial journalists to suggest that the incident was a false flag operation aimed at garnering support for Israel.

The Network Contagion Research Institute, a nonprofit that monitors the spread of emerging threats, revealed that several pro-Palestinian groups had coordinated the attack on platforms like Instagram, WhatsApp, and Telegram. In other words, the alarm bells were blaring loud and clear, but nobody listened.

Despite overwhelming evidence pointing to a premeditated assault, some American media outlets tried to frame the violence as an escalation of a brawl between opposing soccer fans, alleging that Israeli fans had torn down a Palestinian flag and chanted anti-Arab slogans before the game. Even if true—and it’s still unclear that it is—nothing justifies hordes of bloodthirsty assailants rampaging through a city and attacking anyone they suspect of being Israeli. To suggest otherwise should be unthinkable in the twenty-first century. This is the West. People may say and do ugly things, but that never warrants the violence that transpired last night.

For their part, Deborah Lipstadt, the U.S. Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew both condemned the attack. The events in Amsterdam could easily be replicated in the United States, where American Jews have faced surging anti-Semitism since October 7.

In fact, last night, pro-Palestinian activists attempted to flyers that read, “Racists and Zionists are not welcome in our cities.” Simultaneously in Bergenfield, New Jersey—home to a significant Jewish population—pro-Palestinian groups intimidated the community by chanting for “intifada” and brandishing images of Adolf Hitler.

This follows over a year of calls echoing across the U.S., from public squares to college campuses, where radical activists have shouted, “Globalize the intifada.” The intifada has indeed been globalized.

The leap from “Zionists not welcome” and Hitler imagery to events like the Amsterdam rampage is not nearly as vast as it seems. Just as it was in Amsterdam, the writing is on the wall in America. If only those in power would pay more attention. What happened in the Netherlands can easily happen stateside. American officials and law enforcement must remain vigilant before Amsterdam’s horrors find their way to the U.S.

Photo by JEROEN JUMELET/ANP/AFP via Getty Images