Beating up Jews in the shadow of Anne Frank

Mob violence against Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam on Thursday night realised the deepest fears of Jewish people everywhere.

The image of Jews being hunted and beaten on the streets of Europe caught our breath, all the more so in the home city of Anne Frank, the girl who has become a symbol for the entire Holocaust.

There are many differences between what happened in Amsterdam on Thursday night and the antisemitism of historical Europe, but none of them masks the core similarity. Jews were hunted and attacked. Nothing justifies it.

Having made that point clearly, it behoves us to understand exactly what happened, its context and limitations, not to excuse or minimise it but to face it clear-eyed and to guard against its recurrence.

Following a soccer game between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Amsterdam’s Ajax on Thursday night, hundreds of attackers sought out and beat Israeli Maccabi fans. Five people were hospitalised, at least one thrown into a canal, and many others injured. Dutch police detained 62 offenders, fining 40 and charging four with more serious offences.

A second wave of attacks occurred on Monday night when a tram was set on fire and rioters threw debris and shouted "Kanker Joden" ("Cancer Jews", a strong Dutch obscenity).

There is clear evidence that Thursday's attacks were premeditated. Taxi drivers held a meeting ahead of the attacks and social media messages incited others to join a “Jew Hunt”. “Tomorrow after the match at night part 2 Jew Hunt”, read one message in a WhatsApp group called Buurthuis (community centre) Palestine.