The violent assaults on Israeli football fans in Amsterdam reveal a glaring hypocrisy in the city’s moral fabric. While Amsterdam basks in the glow of its Anne Frank House, profiting immensely from the memory of a murdered Jewish girl, it turns a blind eye to the safety of Jews walking its streets today. Last night, Israeli supporters were subjected to a barbaric display of hatred—targeted, beaten, and terrorized by mobs under the guise of football rivalry. These were not isolated incidents but a coordinated pogrom, a chilling echo of a past Amsterdam claims to remember so well.
The response? Riot police was nowhere to prevent assault, a ban on demonstrations after the fact, and empty condemnations from officials. The mayor’s admission of failure rings hollow when the streets remain unsafe for Jews. This isn’t about a failure to anticipate risk; it’s about the city’s ongoing failure to confront its deep-seated antisemitism. Words of condemnation are meaningless when they do not translate into action. If Amsterdam truly honors its Jewish past, it must do more than capitalize on Holocaust tourism—it must defend its Jewish present.
Amsterdam’s leaders love to preach tolerance while cashing in on its dark history. But what good is remembrance if it doesn’t lead to vigilance? The violence against Israeli fans isn’t just an embarrassment; it’s a moral failure of a city that prides itself on being a bastion of liberal values. Until Amsterdam takes real steps to ensure the safety of its Jewish citizens and visitors, its claims of tolerance will remain as hollow as the platitudes uttered in the aftermath of last night’s shameful events.
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