'Point of no return': 5 reactions to rioters hunting down, attacking Israelis in Amsterdam
Benjamin Netanyahu
In response to the attacks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced Friday that the government would order several rescue planes to bring its citizens home. As The Associated Press later reported, the prime minister’s office stated it would help citizens arrange commercial flights.
Netanyahu’s office also announced that the leader had spoken with Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof about ensuring the safety of Israeli citizens, including those who had been injured. The Israeli prime minister thanked Schoof for acknowledging the attacks as antisemitic violence.
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The Israeli leader likened the events after the soccer game in Amsterdam to Kristallnacht, a series of pogroms the Nazis unleashed against Jewish populations in Germany and recently incorporated territories. Rioters destroyed hundreds of synagogues and Jewish institutions, and around 30,000 Jewish men were rounded up and taken to concentration camps.
This weekend is the 86th anniversary of the 1938 event that historians point to as a “turning point” in Nazi Germany’s persecution of the Jews.
"Tomorrow, 86 years ago, was Kristallnacht, when Jews on European soil were attacked for being Jews,” Netanyahu said in a Friday statement. “This has now recurred. This was marked yesterday in the streets of Amsterdam. This is what happened. There is only one difference: The State of the Jews has arisen. We need to deal with it.”
“First of all, this puts us and them, the free countries and the Netherlands, in danger,” he added. “This endangers not only us but also them. But first of all we need to deal with the danger to us. We cannot accept this."
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
