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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   809 thread views

Transnational Thursday for November 7, 2024

Transnational Thursday is a thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or international relations history. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.

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https://edition.cnn.com/2024/11/07/europe/israel-soccer-fans-attacked-amsterdam-intl-hnk/index.html

Israeli soccer fans were attacked in a “serious incident of violence in Amsterdam” overnight into Friday, authorities said, with the Israeli government saying it was sending planes to evacuate affected citizens.

Hundreds of fans of Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer team “were ambushed and attacked in Amsterdam” on Thursday night as they left the stadium following a Europa League game against Dutch side Ajax, the Israeli embassy to the United States said on social media platform X.

Social media video shared by the embassy showed what it said was violence against Maccabi fans. CNN has not yet been able to verify those videos.

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said he was in touch with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the “completely unacceptable anti-Semitic attacks on Israelis.”

“I am in close contact with all those involved. Just now in a call with (the Israeli Prime Minister) Netanyahu emphasized that the perpetrators will be tracked down and prosecuted. It is now quiet in the capital,” Schoof said in a statement on X.

So there's that. The EU definitely has a problem. To which it is oblivious.

They're oblivious to more than one problem. I don't know if they realize what effect these sort of "now that this affects Jewish people, it will be acknowledged as a problem" proclamations could have.

now that this affects Jewish people, it will be acknowledged as a problem

Jews have been attacked by Arabs in Europe for decades, there were the Ilan and Sarah Halimi killings, the Toulouse school attack, various firebombing attempts on synagogues. Nothing much changed. The only difference is that the antisemitic motive is (usually) acknowledged, but this doesn’t actually change policy.

The other difference is before it could be - and usually were - dismissed as random one-off event, that just happened to be against Jews, but does not represent any systemic problem. This event is much bigger and very hard to dismiss as an "action of a lone-wolf crazed individual" - it's clear there is a strong, massive, violent anti-Semitic movement in Europe, and it's ready to roll out Kristallnachts on demand. They will try to dismiss it anyway, but I think they are starting to realize how big of a problem they have got, and that's it is not a Jewish problem but their problem.

If they do try to dismiss it, I think they will go with the “this is just standard football hooliganism, which often has an ethnic tinge and involves physical assaults and rioting” excuse.

I'm sure they'd try that but I hope somebody there is still sane enough to realize a violent coordinated movement of this size which is controlled by somebody other than the government is kinda problem for them. Before it's too late.

The EU definitely has a problem. To which it is oblivious.

The people who tend to be in charge where these things happen i.e leftist mayors, aren't oblivious, they just don't see it as much of a problem.

ETA: It seems Amsterdam's mayor has declared a state of emergency, and the police are knocking down doors to arrest the perpetrators, so I think I have to eat my words here. Maybe you can be too cynical.

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