As the Jewish world reeled from the aftermath of the attack on Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam yesterday, a Dutch Jew told the Israeli TPS news agency how the rioters stole the Israeli flag flying in front of his home in the Dutch capital and burned it in the street. The man spoke to TPS on condition of anonymity and said he was concerned about his safety, BTA reported.
„As a Jewish family, with love for our people, heritage and homeland, we have always proudly flown the Israeli flag from this home. It was never really a problem. From time to time we have been shouted insults at this home, but this is really the worst, he explains.
„However, things have taken a turn in the last year. Anti-Semitism is getting worse and I feel like it is no longer “an isolated incident here and there”, as many people often like to say,”, he stressed. “He is everywhere. You can feel it. My wife is Israeli and always looks around before speaking Hebrew to our young daughter in public. Things have come to such an extent," the man noted.
Participants in the riots took down the flag and burned it.
„I feel sad, scared, angry and outraged. So many emotions at the same time“, he tells TPS.
„I don't get the feeling that the government takes its job of protecting us seriously. After all, we're just Jews, right? There are literally police officers here who refuse to protect Israelis because they are pro-Palestinian. The mayor is doing nothing substantial to protect us. This is outrageous“, the man explains.
Nearly 30 thousand Jews live in the Netherlands and he says his family has lived in Amsterdam for hundreds of years.
„It was once a safe haven, a place where people came to be free. Even after the Holocaust, when most of my family was destroyed, my family stayed and we rebuilt our lives and our community. But maybe the time has come for me to leave, he says.
As for the flag, the man said, “My father already ordered a bigger one.
Around 3,000 Israeli soccer fans traveled to Amsterdam to see Maccabi Tel Aviv play Ajax.
A video circulating on social media shows rioters carrying Palestinian flags and shouting “Free Palestine” attacking Israeli soccer fans after the match. Ten Israelis were injured and Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said three were missing.
Israeli citizens were warned to stay in their hotels and be prepared to leave the country at short notice. Police have arrested more than 60 suspects, Dutch media reported, citing TPS.
Israel's national airline said it had received permission from a rabbi to fly on the Sabbath to evacuate Israelis from Amsterdam. The evacuation was necessitated by the attacks by rioters against Israelis in the Dutch capital.
„We betrayed the trust of the Jewish community during World War II, and last night we did it again,” Dutch King Willem-Alexander told Israeli President Yitzhak Herzog in a telephone conversation. The king also promised to assist in the safe return home of all Israelis.
Israeli officials condemned the attack.
„Tomorrow we will mark the anniversary of the Kristallnacht pogroms in November 1938. and it is very troubling to show that 86 years have passed but we are once again witnessing an act of severe, initiated and planned violence against Jews going on unimpeded, said Danny Dayan, head of Yad Vashem, the World Center for commemoration of the Holocaust.