Israeli Druze Saves Jews in Amsterdam Pogrom Carried Out by Arabs
Attacks that targeted Israeli fans at a soccer match in Amsterdam carried out by roving bands of Arb Muslims on Thursday evening is being called a pogrom. Amsterdam authorities said Friday morning that five injured Israeli soccer fans have since been released from the hospital, and 20 to 30 other people were lightly wounded. Three Israelis were initially reported missing, but the Israeli Foreign Ministry has since stated that all Israelis have been accounted for.
“The police have launched a major investigation into multiple violent incidents,” the department told JNS. “So far, it is known that five people have been taken to the hospital and 62 individuals have been arrested.”
“The police are aware of reports regarding a possible hostage situation and missing persons, but currently have no confirmation that this actually took place,” it added. “This aspect is also under investigation.”
Approximately 3,000 Israelis traveled to Amsterdam for the game between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax. The government in Amsterdam launched an inquiry into whether alerts from Jerusalem were overlooked prior to the mob attacks carried out on Thursday night against Israeli soccer fans, Justice Minister David van Weel said in a letter to the Dutch Parliament, Reuters reported on Saturday.
In an act of extreme bravery, Melhem Asad, from Kisra-Sumei, a Druze town in Israel, told the media that he spoke Arabic to Muslim attackers and warned Jewish Israelis in order to protect them from the Arab assailants.
“The fans were simply abandoned, we all got on the trains and headed for the hotels, and the local police just messed up, big time. They didn’t secure us, they didn’t watch over us, we felt very exposed,” he said.
Asad heard a group of people speaking in Arabic about their plans to attack Israelis, and that is when he realized he could use the fact that he spoke Arabic to confuse their plans.
“I heard people from across the street talking in Arabic and planning on how and where to attack the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans,” he said. “I took advantage of the fact that I spoke Arabic and shouted at them. They thought I was one of them.”
“I told them that the Jews were no longer here, that they had fled. I did everything to confuse them; I knew exactly where our fans were, and it worked. I convinced them to go in the other direction.”
He then ran to warn the Israelis. Asad told them to take them off their Maccabi shirts after he heard members of the mob saying they would attack anyone wearing a Maccabi shirt.
He ran into bars and restaurants to warn Israelis.
“My goal was to save everyone possible; I saw the amount of hatred and the number of people. I started running between bars, restaurants, alleys, wherever I knew the fans were passing on the way back from the game,” Asad said.
“My heart burned at that moment. Unfortunately, I could not save everyone, but I tried to warn as many Israelis as possible. I feel that God sent me at the right moment and in the right place to save those who can.”
Amsterdam has banned demonstrations for three days in the wake of the attacks.The mayor also announced a ban on “face-covering clothing” and “carrying objects” that could disturb public order. Following the Amsterdam incident, some people in France have called for next week’s match between the French and Israeli national soccer teams to be relocated.
On an even more disturbing note, the attacks took place on the eve of the anniversary of the Kristallnacht pogroms in Europe that marked the beginning of the Naziu efforts to annihilate the Jewish people. The attack in Amsterdam constitutes the largest-scale antisemitic event in the kingdom since the Holocaust.
Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reported on Friday that the attacks were likely the result of a pre-planned attack against Jews organized in a Telegram group. Following the attacks on Thursday night, individuals in the Telegram groups spoke of a follow-up attack.
Yeshiva World News called for a global boycott of Uber in response to the attacks. YWN reported that a significant number of the attackers were Uber drivers who used their positions to locate and target Jews. These claims have circulated widely on social media, yet Uber has remained silent, ignoring the calls for accountability and transparency. There are concerns that taxi drivers might again target Jewish passengers, viewing them as vulnerable when they enter their cabs.
The Dutch press reported last night that over the past year, some taxi drivers in Amsterdam have refused to pick up passengers with Jewish or Israeli names. Furthermore, some Jewish passengers who changed their names in the app still experience verbal abuse, curses, and, since October 7, even violent assaults by North African drivers.
The Israeli National Security Council stated in Hebrew that Israelis in Amsterdam should remain in their hotel rooms and avoid the street, refrain from wearing visible Jewish or Israeli symbols and notify Dutch police and the Israeli mission about any threat or attack. Israel sent two military rescue flights to airlift its citizens out of Amsterdam as the Jewish state’s National Security Council advised them to avoid traveling anywhere in the Netherlands except for airports. The council also advised Israelis to return to home, with more planes expected.
King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands told Israeli President Isaac Herzog that “we failed the Jewish community of the Netherlands during World War II, and last night we failed again,” per an Israeli readout of the call.
Earlier in the day, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof spoke with Herzog and Netanyahu. Schoof wrote that he was “horrified by the antisemitic attacks on Israeli citizens. This is completely unacceptable.”
“The perpetrators will be identified and prosecuted. The situation in Amsterdam is now calm once more,” he wrote.
“Arrest and deport the multicultural scum that attacked Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters in our streets,” wrote Geert Wilders, who leads the largest political party in the Netherlands. “Ashamed that this can happen in the Netherlands. Totally unacceptable.”
“A pogrom in the streets of Amsterdam. We have become the Gaza of Europe,” he added in another post. “Muslims with Palestinian flags hunting down Jews.”
“I will not accept that. Never,” he wrote. “The authorities will be held accountable for their failure to protect the Israeli citizens. Never again.”
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