Dutch Jewish leaders on Amsterdam pogrom: This was not ordinary hooliganism, this was antisemitism

Binyomin Jacobs, Holland's Chief Rabbi, released a statement today (Friday) together with the heads of Jewish communal institutions IPOR and EJA, issued a stinging condemnation of the pogrom committed last night against Israeli Jews in Amsterdam.

The statement said that "we are shocked and not surprised at the revolting scenes we saw yesterday in the Dutch capital."

Addressing the claim that this was just standard misbehavior of soccer fans, the statement said "this was not hooliganism. Hooliganism is a normal phenomenon at soccer games. The heavy presence of the police and security forces in Amsterdam attests to this. They were ready for it. Here, the only motive was antisemitism.

"But what came afterward - these revolting and cruel attacks, are the strongest example of extreme antisemitism, of the hatred of Jews spreading across the continent like a cancer."