'This must be a wake-up call’: Jewish groups urge European leaders to respond to Amsterdam ‘pogrom’ on eve of Kristallnacht anniversary

World leaders must take “immediate and decisive action to fight against antisemitism” before it hits catastrophic proportions, Jewish leaders and charities have said after the violent attack in Amsterdam against Israeli football supporters.

Jewish fans were mobbed in the streets of the Dutch capital on Thursday evening in what is being described as a pogrom after a Europa League match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax.

According to Israel’s Foreign Ministry, at least ten Israelis were injured, and two are unreachable.

In the UK, Phil Rosenberg, President of the Board of Deputies, said he would be speaking to police and the government “to ensure there can be no repeat here in the UK.”

"Some have likened the situation there to a 'pogrom'. On the basis of reports we have seen so far, it is hard to disagree,” Rosenberg added.

The Jewish Leadership Council said: “After over a year of extremist rhetoric and unchecked antisemitism in Europe, we now see scenes of football fans hunted down and attacked on the streets. The perpetrators must be brought to justice.”

Meanwhile a spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “This is what ‘globalising the intifada’ looks like.

“We are witnessing levels of antisemitism not seen in our lifetime, and it is of the utmost importance that Britain acts against the antisemitic thugs here at home who have become increasingly emboldened.”

Charities devoted to the memory of the Holocaust also commented on the attacks.

Karen Pollock CBE, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust said: “We are absolutely horrified at the shocking scenes... We are reminded yet again that antisemitism starts with words but ends in violence.

“To see this on the eve of Kristallnacht where Jewish people were attacked, their homes, businesses and synagogues destroyed; and in the city of Anne Frank, must be a wake-up call for the authorities in European countries to deal with this rise of racism,” Pollock said.

The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust said in a statement: “Occurring on the weekend of the Kristallnacht anniversary, these attacks serve as a grave warning that the fight against antisemitism remains urgent and vital.

“These abhorrent acts, which resulted in multiple injuries, are a stark reminder of the ongoing threat faced by Jewish people worldwide, even in public spaces,” HMD added.

The chair of Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, Dani Dayan, called upon “world leaders to recognise and take immediate and decisive action to fight against antisemitism and hate before the disease metastasises to catastrophic proportions. History has shown us that we cannot afford to be complacent in the face of antisemitism.”

President of the European Jewish Congress, Dr Ariel Musicant, said the attacks “should be a wake-up call to Dutch and European authorities about where uncontrolled anti-Israel demonstrations lead.”

“We call on Dutch authorities to take all necessary measures to protect Jews and Israelis in the country and to allow and facilitate safe and speedy return for all Israeli citizens from the country,” Musicant added.

Musicant said the attacks “do not occur in a vacuum and come against a background of widescale displays of anti-Jewish and Israeli hate on the streets of European capitals, mimicking the Hamas pogrom of Israelis on October 7 last year.”

Chief Rabbi of the Netherlands Binyomin Jacobs, President of Netherlands’ Jewish Communities Ellen Van Praagh and the Chairman of the European Jewish Association Rabbi Menachem Margolin said the attacks demonstrated that "all-pervading Jew hatred is running like a cancer throughout the continent.

“People roaming the streets in masks asking people if they were Jewish then assaulting them and throwing them into canals. This is Europe now in 2024.

“We call this hate a cancer. It requires immediate surgery. These assaults are not an isolated incident. It is part of a much bigger picture of Jew hate since October 7 in the Netherlands, Jews cannot take public transport, they are fearful.

“We say to the Dutch government and governments across Europe: wake up. It cannot be business as usual from now on when it comes to fighting antisemitism.”

Adding his thoughts, Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, President of the Conference of European Rabbis (CER), said “The terrible images from Amsterdam are shocking and deeply shameful for Europe particularly as this has happened immediately before November 9 [Kristallnacht anniversary].

“Just like back then in 1938 security forces and the police have stood idly by and watched these pogrom-like conditions. If the EU member states and their governments do not adequately protect Europe's legal interests, they endanger the entire European democratic project and give the radicals and extremists a good excuse to carry on and to move us into an unfree society.”