Mitvim director claims Amsterdam attacks were anti-Israel, not antisemitic - interview

"As Israelis, we must understand how we are seen in Europe," Dr. Maya Sion-Tzidkiyahu explained.

By MAARIV NOVEMBER 12, 2024 12:24

Protesters running after Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam (photo credit: REUTERS)

Last weekend, horrible pictures from the attack on Israelis in Amsterdam were spread all over social media. Violent mobs were caught beating, raping, kicking, and spitting on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans who came to the team's game against Ajax, the Amsterdam football team.

To understand the motivations behind the attacks, we spoke to Dr. Maya Sion-Tzidkiyahu, director of Mitvim’s Israel-Europe Relations Program and a lecturer at Hebrew University’s European Forum and Tel Aviv University’s European Union Studies Program.

What led to this violence?

"The violent attackers, for whom I can only condemn, who attacked the Israeli fans came from a particular population who were looking for certain people.

They were not looking for Jews; their attacks were directed against Israelis. It may be that some of them are indeed anti-Semitic, but what happened here is actually anti-Zionism or anti-Israelism.'

Sion-Tzidkiyahu continued, "There is no justification for violence. These rioters specifically sought revenge on the one who tore up the Palestinian flags and called for the death of the Arabs. The actions of those in Amsterdam are the result of anti-Israeli sentiment. There is a very sharp new anti-Semitism, but in Amsterdam, it was mainly anti-Israeli and anti-Zionist."

A person is detained by the police as Israeli Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters demonstrate in Amsterdam, Netherlands, November 7, 2024, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. (credit: Michel Van Bergen/via REUTERS)

According to Sion-Tzidkiyahu, this conflict was due to the existence of the State of Israel and the military action carried out by the IDF in the Gaza Strip. Therefore, she clarified that in this case, they were not targeting non-Israeli Jews.

"As Israelis, we must understand how we are seen in Europe. After October 7, there was actually a pro-Israeli wave in the beginning, but a month into the war, the number of civilian casualties in Gaza caused a very large anti-Israeli wave. It is very easy to dismiss everything with the word 'anti-Semitism.'

"But as far as the Israeli government claims that this is anti-Semitism and the leaders of European countries agree that this is the case, the Israeli government endangers the fate of European Jews with anti-Semitism that really originates from anti-Israelism and anti-Zionism," said Sion-Tzidkiyahu.

“I don't disagree for a moment that these were violent demonstrations. There is indeed a danger of the deterioration of public order and security for Israelis and for the Jewish communities in Europe. The war in Gaza has become part of the political divide in Europe between the anti-Muslim nationalist right and the pro-Palestinian progressive left.

This conflict, she explained, has turned Israel into a proxy for European internal disputes.

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Will pro-Palestinian protests continue in Europe?

"Yes. As long as the fighting in the Gaza Strip continues and now also the war in the North, then yes.'

It is also important to put the recent demonstrations in context. Sion-Tzidkiyahu mentioned during the conversation that the multitude of events and wars that Israel has known have also led to massive protests around the world.

For example, during the "Tzuk Eitan" operation in 2014, tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Brussels, Paris, Germany, etc. In Paris, these demonstrations turned into a violent riot against Jewish institutions.

During the operation in 2021 (Operation Guardian of the Walls), there were severe clashes between demonstrators and the police forces. Demonstrators in Vienna, for example, carried signs that read in German, "Well done Israel, Hitler was proud of you" and "The Nazis are still with us, today they call themselves Zionists."

"It is important to clarify that there is no doubt that the anti-Semitic attacks on Jews in Europe have increased since the war in Gaza. Unlike the violent riot in Amsterdam, in which the rioters were looking for Israeli fans, in most of the other incidents in Europe, anti-Israel and anti-Zionism are translated into the "new" anti-Semitism.

Even if this time the attacks were anti-Israelism and anti-Zionism, as Israelis, we must understand that Israel's actions in Gaza challenge and even endanger European Jews and the continuation of Jewish life in Europe due to the rise of anti-Semitic attacks against them."