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Following the Pogrom in Amsterdam, Europe Must Act Now to Protect Jews
Israeli football supporters are assaulted near Amsterdam Central station, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, November 8, 2024, in this still image obtained from a social media video. Photo: X/iAnnet/via REUTERS
Pogroms are events that many Jews once believed were confined to the darkest chapters of European history, relegated to memory and textbooks.
Yet, on November 7, 2024, a pogrom is precisely what we witnessed when Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam were ambushed, chased, and beaten by organized mobs.
Dutch authorities revealed that the attack was far from spontaneous; it had been meticulously orchestrated via WhatsApp, with a group chat calling for a “Jew hunt.” Targeting Jews everywhere is exactly what former Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh meant when he called to “globalize the intifada.”
The reality is stark: Europe — a continent that once prided itself on lessons learned from its past — is now witnessing those lessons unravel as antisemitic violence surges anew.
This incident in Amsterdam, following a year of rising antisemitic incidents across Europe, should have been a loud and clear wake-up call for European leaders. Yet the response has been woefully inadequate. As was the case in the immediate days following October 7, 2023, when antisemitic crimes escalated dramatically, much of the reaction has been confined to mere condemnations.
In the Netherlands, where the memory of the Holocaust and the nation’s failure to protect its Jewish population during World War II remain a national scar, this recent wave of antisemitism feels particularly perilous. Dutch officials, including King Willem-Alexander and Amsterdam’s mayor, have expressed sorrow and regret, but the time for words has long passed.
Over the last year, we have seen a 245% increase in antisemitic incidents in the Netherlands, a staggering 1,000% rise in France, nearly 600% in the UK, and similar spikes across Europe and worldwide. This is not an isolated surge confined to one country but a dangerous new era for Jews throughout Europe.
The Dutch government — and European governments at large — must move beyond apologies. While such gestures have their place, they are insufficient in addressing the scale and urgency of this crisis.
We need action. On November 19, I joined a group of European government ministers, convened at AJC’s urging by French Minister for European Affairs Benjamin Haddad and Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Caspar Veldkamp, to propose urgent and immediate measures that European governments must take to protect their Jewish communities. Importantly, the group acknowledged that this meeting was merely a first step, and that much more remains to be done.
The European Union must acknowledge the unfolding crisis and elevate it to the highest priority level, including by convening an emergency meeting of European heads of state. This cannot be business as usual. Antisemitism is not a problem for Jews alone, but a societal cancer that threatens the stability, cohesion, and future of Europe itself.
Europe’s leaders must establish a comprehensive, zero-tolerance policy on antisemitism. For too long, European governments have allowed antisemitism to fester on their streets, in their universities, and within social and public institutions, creating an environment where it thrives unchecked and unpunished.
We need a unified and unyielding response, especially as anti-Zionism has become the new guise for antisemitism. The narrative that equates anti-Zionism with legitimate political discourse too often goes unchallenged, providing cover for violent rhetoric and actions against Jews.
Laws and policies across the continent must reflect that demonizing Israel is not only discriminatory but also dangerous, with immediate consequences for those who engage in this form of hate.
European leaders — with a continent-wide strategy — must also address the surge of Islamist antisemitism specifically, recognizing that it presents a direct threat to both Jewish communities and Europe at large, including Muslim communities themselves.
Islamism is a weaponized, extremist political interpretation of Islam in which anti-Jewish hate is central. It is the ideology that drives Hamas and that sadly also has footholds in some parts of European Muslim communities. Leaders must confront the complex layers of this issue, from foreign funding that promotes divisive ideologies to the radicalization occurring within communities and to social media, and take steps to ensure that antisemitic violence — under any form or justification — is eradicated.
This issue is neither recent nor isolated; it is the result of longstanding challenges with integration and the manipulation of vulnerable communities by foreign and domestic actors in mosques, through community organizations, and even at home, by extremist groups on social media and antisemitic discourse promoted on foreign TV channels. These forces exploit failures in integration policies, using divisive narratives to incite hatred against Jews under the guise of solidarity with Palestinian causes.
The attack in Amsterdam, along with the surge of Islamist antisemitism and antisemitic incidents more broadly across Europe, must be recognized as an urgent warning. Without a full-scale campaign of enforcement, protection, and justice, Europe risks seeing that the “globalization of the Intifada” not only threatens Jews, but society at large.
Antisemitism is not simply a “Jewish issue;” it is a fundamental societal issue — one that demands a whole-of-society approach.
Amsterdam cannot remain a tragic headline or a cautionary tale. This is the moment for Europe to rise to its ideals and demonstrate that it will not tolerate hatred in any form — especially not under the guise of political discourse or religious conviction.
Simone Rodan-Benzaquen is the Managing Director of AJC Europe, overseeing AJC’s offices in Berlin, Brussels, Paris, Prague, Rome, Sofia and Central Europe.
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Iranian Media Claims Obtaining ‘Sensitive’ Israeli Intelligence Materials
FILE PHOTO: The atomic symbol and the Iranian flag are seen in this illustration, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
i24 News – Iranian and Iran-affiliated media claimed on Saturday that the Islamic Republic had obtained a trove of “strategic and sensitive” Israeli intelligence materials related to Israel’s nuclear facilities and defense plans.
“Iran’s intelligence apparatus has obtained a vast quantity of strategic and sensitive information and documents belonging to the Zionist regime,” Iran’s state broadcaster said, referring to Israel in the manner accepted in those Muslim or Arab states that don’t recognize its legitimacy. The statement was also relayed by the Lebanese site Al-Mayadeen, affiliated with the Iran-backed jihadists of Hezbollah.
The reports did not include any details on the documents or how Iran had obtained them.
The intelligence reportedly included “thousands of documents related to that regime’s nuclear plans and facilities,” it added.
According to the reports, “the data haul was extracted during a covert operation and included a vast volume of materials including documents, images, and videos.”
The report comes amid high tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, over which it is in talks with the US administration of President Donald Trump.
Iranian-Israeli tensions reached an all-time high since the October 7 massacre and the subsequent Gaza war, including Iranian rocket fire on Israel and Israeli aerial raids in Iran that devastated much of the regime’s air defenses.
Israel, which regards the prospect of the antisemitic mullah regime obtaining a nuclear weapon as an existential threat, has indicated it could resort to a military strike against Iran’s installations should talks fail to curb uranium enrichment.
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Israel Retrieves Body of Thai Hostage from Gaza
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz looks on, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Nov. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage who had been held in Gaza since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday.
Nattapong Pinta’s body was held by a Palestinian terrorist group called the Mujahedeen Brigades, and was recovered from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified.
Pinta, an agricultural worker, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small Israeli community near the Gaza border where a quarter of the population was killed or taken hostage during the Hamas attack that triggered the devastating war in Gaza.
Israel’s military said Pinta had been abducted alive and killed by his captors, who had also killed and taken to Gaza the bodies of two more Israeli-American hostages that were retrieved earlier this week.
There was no immediate comment from the Mujahedeen Brigades, who have previously denied killing their captives, or from Hamas. The Israeli military said the Brigades were still holding the body of another foreign national. Only 20 of the 55 remaining hostages are believed to still be alive.
The Mujahedeen Brigades also held and killed Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, according to Israeli authorities. Their bodies were returned during a two-month ceasefire, which collapsed in March after the two sides could not agree on terms for extending it to a second phase.
Israel has since expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip as US, Qatari and Egyptian-led efforts to secure another ceasefire have faltered.
US-BACKED AID GROUP HALTS DISTRIBUTIONS
The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade of the enclave, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling.
Aid distribution was halted on Friday after the US-and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said overcrowding had made it unsafe to continue operations. It was unclear whether aid had resumed on Saturday.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral. It says it has provided around 9 million meals so far.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that 350 trucks of humanitarian aid belonging to U.N. and other international relief groups were transferred this week via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza.
The war erupted after Hamas-led terrorists took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the October 7, 2023 attack, Israel’s single deadliest day.
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US Mulls Giving Millions to Controversial Gaza Aid Foundation, Sources Say
Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
The State Department is weighing giving $500 million to the new foundation providing aid to war-shattered Gaza, according to two knowledgeable sources and two former US officials, a move that would involve the US more deeply in a controversial aid effort that has been beset by violence and chaos.
The sources and former US officials, all of whom requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that money for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) would come from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which is being folded into the US State Department.
The plan has met resistance from some US officials concerned with the deadly shootings of Palestinians near aid distribution sites and the competence of the GHF, the two sources said.
The GHF, which has been fiercely criticized by humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations, for an alleged lack of neutrality, began distributing aid last week amid warnings that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli aid blockade, which was lifted on May 19 when limited deliveries were allowed to resume.
The foundation has seen senior personnel quit and had to pause handouts twice this week after crowds overwhelmed its distribution hubs.
The State Department and GHF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Reuters has been unable to establish who is currently funding the GHF operations, which began in Gaza last week. The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to transport aid into Gaza for distribution at so-called secure distribution sites.
On Thursday, Reuters reported that a Chicago-based private equity firm, McNally Capital, has an “economic interest” in the for-profit US contractor overseeing the logistics and security of GHF’s aid distribution hubs in the enclave.
While US President Donald Trump’s administration and Israel say they don’t finance the GHF operation, both have been pressing the United Nations and international aid groups to work with it.
The US and Israel argue that aid distributed by a long-established U.N. aid network was diverted to Hamas. Hamas has denied that.
USAID has been all but dismantled. Some 80 percent of its programs have been canceled and its staff face termination as part of President Donald Trump’s drive to align US foreign policy with his “America First” agenda.
One source with knowledge of the matter and one former senior official said the proposal to give the $500 million to GHF has been championed by acting deputy USAID Administrator Ken Jackson, who has helped oversee the agency’s dismemberment.
The source said that Israel requested the funds to underwrite GHF’s operations for 180 days.
The Israeli government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The two sources said that some US officials have concerns with the plan because of the overcrowding that has affected the aid distribution hubs run by GHF’s contractor, and violence nearby.
Those officials also want well-established non-governmental organizations experienced in running aid operations in Gaza and elsewhere to be involved in the operation if the State Department approves the funds for GHF, a position that Israel likely will oppose, the sources said.
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