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Have you ever considered that today’s events were yesterday’s writing on the wall?
Amsterdam
Twenty-five years ago, I visited Amsterdam for a week. The weather was cooler than expected – too cold for my antipodean bones - and I desperately sought a store selling alpine jackets (a rare commodity back home in Jerusalem). My cropped beard did a good job protecting my face from the biting wind. A blue woolen beanie covered my hair, making me look like everyone else on the street. Looking around the Kalverstraat shopping mall, I found a heated clothing store. Once inside, I took off my beanie, revealing the kippa on the back of my head.
I wandered among the clothing racks, perusing the coats on sale. Pedestrians passed outside the storefront window, sometimes peering in. I sensed someone enter and wander over to my aisle. I ignored him. Suddenly, from behind, something collided with me, almost knocking me over. Confused, I turned to see a short fellow with dark complexion and a weak, scruffy growth on his chin. He had seen me from outside and felt comfortable enough to walk right in and attack me. The hostile look in his eyes, and his middle eastern features, made it clear what was going on. He came at me again, this time head on, with no pretence. I was flabbergasted. I braced as he moved in, curses emanating from his lips. But I felt nothing. The store attendant, a tall, big-boned Dutchman twice his size, physically lifted my pursuer off the ground and placed him outside the store, sending him on his way. The attendant had been watching this encounter and stepped in to prevent it getting worse. At first I thought he was trying to protect me, but later realised he just didn’t want problems on his shift. He came over and addressed me.
“What did you do to that guy? He clearly doesn’t like you…”
My jaw dropped at his question.
“I’ve never seen him before in my life!” I proclaimed. The attendant looked at me, unconvinced.
“So what happened, then? Why would he attack you like that?”
I wondered: How does one explain a lifetime of persecution in one sentence?
“That’s
what it’s like being Jewish”, I explained quietly. “People
attack you for nothing. Now you know.”
This event took place in the year 2000. Arab residents existed in Europe at that time, but they were still a relatively quiet minority.
Since that time, major political upheavals in the Middle East have vastly increased immigration to Europe. Western sensibilities dictated that populations suffering in onerous societies should be given salvation. Many refugees sought to integrate in their new homes in which they were a minority. Today, however, the children of those immigrants - a generation of disenfranchised youth who failed to integrate in the West or who disdain the values of their saviours - now feel a safety in numbers and are flexing their muscles all over the continent. And the way they express frustration is not pretty.
The above sentiment was succinctly depicted in the following cartoon, which popped up in my social media feed.
Have things changed?
Two weeks ago, Israeli football team Maccabi played in Amsterdam against local team Ajax.
A large number of Israeli fans flew over to attend the game. After their arrival some fans, like football louts the world over, behaved stupidly. One tore down a Palestine flag from a building, and others made offensive chants. Not a smart thing to do in any context, let alone a foreign country. To be honest, this behaviour sickens and embarrasses me.
These acts would later be framed in the media as justifications for the violence that would follow.
Having said that, I am not sure how any right-thinking person could justify violence in this context. Firstly because this assumes some equivalence between loutish behaviour and physical violence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2e5qe5ZcxPI
But worse, because it belies an incredible double standard applied by the media. Compare these acts with the tolerance and acceptance afforded to Palestine sympathisers globally who, since October 8, 2023, have screamed anti-Israeli and anti-semitic chants under the guise of 'freedom of speech', while tearing down with impunity heartbreaking posters calling for the release of Israeli citizens that were kidnapped and are being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgv4mdr9y8o
The media framed these Arab attacks as a spontaneous reaction to incitement by the Israeli fans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtZ97sFQ_e0&list=PLocBIhHWJVdhchdrbu9yn6-KFBKP9CjrH&index=2 (at 43min)
On the contrary: these attacks on Israelis, far from being a spontaneous outburst, were organised by Arab taxi and Uber drivers, who coordinated themselves using social media apps Telegram, Snapchat and Whatsapp. They converged on a casino where hundreds of Israelis had congregated and were intending to cab to their hotels. Except that the drivers themselves had been instrumental in organising the attack. Messages between the drivers were later identified as including calls to continue the ‘Jew Hunt’. Watching the violence from the sidelines, police suggested Jews not take taxis that night.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZuI2EY6sEU
In the context of the ongoing war in Gaza, and the large Muslim population of the Dutch capital, which has been goaded on by the international media that depict Israel – a country pursuing its vicious attackers from Gaza – as genocidal maniacs, there were likely to be some tensions during the match.
But here’s the thing: these attacks were not a spontaneous reaction to Israeli incitement. They were a premeditated, organised attack, a direct result of incitement by the media of a socially dislocated population whose culture expresses discontent through violence.
Why would I think that to be the case?
Way in advance of the match, the Mossad (Israel’s version of the CIA) warned the Dutch security services, to increase security, following a social media ‘flare up’ portending Arab violence against Jews.
With anti-Israel sentiment leading up to the match, police even banned a pro-Palestine rally outside the stadium.
And the Muslim mob apparently came to the match armed with Palestine flags and various implements to be used as weapons. .
Connecting the Dots
The attacks, reminiscent of the Kristalnacht attacks against innocent Jews on the streets of pre-war Germany, were so bad that Israel sent two airplanes to Holland to rescue its citizens.
Dutch FM, Geert Wilders, called on those 'Muslims' who attacked the Jews in the incident, to be deported.
A Dutch Holocaust survivor, Lore Bauer, drew a very poignant connection:
'As she watched eerily familiar scenes of Jews being hunted and pummeled on the street, scrambling to escape, with police doing little to stop it – Baer recalled the horror of Kristallnacht for “the crime” of being a Jew….It’s not that different than what’s going on at Columbia (University),” she asserted, noting that the mobs of Arabs in Holland made good in deed what the keffiyeh-clad protestors on college quads promised in word.'
On a recent trip to the UK I witnessed the results of Europe’s humanitarian refugee policies every time I walked down the street.
This is not just in the UK: it has become the new face of Europe. All over the continent, new electorates have been imported with traditions that sanction violence as a form of expression.
With the passage of time, these segments of the population have been growing towards a critical mass. But instead of assisting those who fail to integrate, and protecting their societies and values with robust programs of education and inclusion, European institutions have redirected the frustrations of their new residents towards a scapegoat, Israel, via its media that vilifies Israel and justifies terrorism against the Jewish state.
And here's the rub: By being dishonest and scapegoating Israel to avoid clashing with its new demographic, Europe is creating a situation that is going to come back and bite it in the bum.
Scapegoating and Double Standards
Just last week, the scapegoating of Israel and the application of double standards continued.
Echoes of the Past
(The echoes of that period ring loud and clear today, as Israel battles Hezbollah in those same Lebanese villages, and way beyond.)
Ashrawi spoke vehemently against Israel and, claiming that Israel was seeking to steal Arab land, referred to a Zionist thirst for Lebensraum (employing the Nazi word for living space). Whenever questioned or asked for proof for her claims, Ashrawi condescendingly replied, "It is in the records of the UN. You can go and look it up by yourself". I recall the absurdity of this answer. It was like telling a Judge in a court case not to worry, the evidence is stored in a filing cabinet on the moon.
Towards question time, the Jews present lurched towards the exits. The beefy doormen had entered the hall itself and the way was open for us Jews to leave. Stragglers were caught and accosted, but I don't recall any other consequences. A week later, a query was made in the Australian parliament about how the member of a terrorist group had been granted an entry visa to the country. By that stage, Ashrawi had left our shores.
This occurred when the PLO was openly committed to Israel's violent destruction, before the 1994 Oslo peace accords. Ashrawi, an avowed enemy of Israel, would soon join the PLO executive, and eventually become a member of the government of the Palestinian Authority, established under the peace accords that would fail miserably.
For those who open their eyes, the connecting dots are not difficult to see:
The true lesson, is that today’s events are the writing we need to heed in order to prepare for tomorrow.
