Milwaukee Jewish Federation
Press Release

Joint Statement: Response to Violence in Netherlands

 

By - Nov 8th, 2024 11:30 am

The Milwaukee Jewish Federation, Jewish Community Relations Council, and Nathan and Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center strongly condemn, and are committed to speaking out against, the violent and antisemitic attacks perpetrated against our Jewish and Israeli brothers and sisters last evening in Amsterdam. Mobs terrorized and beat Israelis and Jews trying to enjoy a soccer game. This moment reminds the Jewish People of the many pogroms – acts of violence against Jews, often state-sponsored – that we have experienced throughout our history, simply because of our identity as Jews. Chillingly, this violent night in Amsterdam falls just days before the 86th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, on November 9-10, 1938.

On Kristallnacht, Nazi leadership unleashed a series of pogroms across Germany and recently incorporated territories, resulting in the deaths of over 100 Jews, thousands of injured, roundups and deportations of 30,000 Jewish men to Dachau concentration camp, and the destruction of synagogues and Jewish-owned businesses and homes. Even though the pogroms of Kristallnacht were covered extensively abroad in newspapers and magazines, including right here in Milwaukee, the world failed to heed this warning. Six million Jews and millions of others were killed in the years that followed by the Nazis and their collaborators, in part due to the world’s failure to stand up against this blatant identity-based hate.

We urge our community to report antisemitic or anti-Israeli incidents using this form and to remain educated and alert during this challenging time. We are grateful for the opportunity to come together as a community next week to commemorate Kristallnacht and take a stand against antisemitism and hate.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.

Mentioned in This Press Release

Recent Press Releases by Milwaukee Jewish Federation

Milwaukee Jewish Federation (MJF) Releases NEW Antisemitic Incident Reporting Tool

Antisemitic issues and incidents are at an all-time high in the United States and in Wisconsin

The Hypocrisy of March on RNC was on Full Display in Milwaukee

The event organizers calling for peace and equity called for neither

Comments

  1. tornado75 says:

    does what is happening in gaza remind you of the pogroms. israli citizens shouldn’t be beaten or hurt in a safe place. however, every vocal or physical reaction against israel is NOT anti semetic. it just might be against the killing of primarily muslim women and children.

  2. Duane says:

    Saw on another website that the violence was sparked by Israeli soccer fans arriving in the city and attacking Palestinian supporters before the match. “They began attacking houses of people in Amsterdam with Palestinian flags, so that’s actually where the violence started,” Councilman Jazie Veldhuyzen told Al Jazeera on Friday. “As a reaction, Amsterdammers mobilised themselves and countered the attacks that started on Wednesday by the Maccabi hooligans.” (Obviously the councilman and Al Jazeera are rabid anti semites).

    Joe Biden was quick to condemn this as anti semitism, (about as quick as he has been to approve all military aid to Israel) tweeting “The Antisemitic attacks on Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam are despicable and echo dark moments in history when Jews were persecuted”.

    To me it seems the Democrats would rather lose elections than upset any of their political donors like AIPAC by standing up to the genocidial right wing government of Israel. Jeez, I wonder why people didn’t vote for them? (Obviously I am a rabid anti semite). (Funtime 2024 election fact, Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a progressive Palestinian American, won 62 percent of the vote in Dearborn compared to Republican candidate James Hooper’s 30 percent. Trump claimed 43 percent of the vote in Dearborn, Michigan, to Kamala Harris’s 36 percent. with Jill Stein claiming 15 percent ).

    Trump might using the Insurrection Act of 1807 next year and have the US military confront any protestors against the genocide in Gaza (because obviously all the protestors are anti semetic terrorists deserving of prison time). Wonder how many good AIPAC funded corporate Democrats would voice support for Trump on that policy?

  3. Marty Ellenbecker says:

    Duane, I saw same story on 2 websites myself,
    shortly after the outbreak.
    One was a long spoken editorial which included a news clip
    that a videographer claims is his, and used without permission.
    It shows violence committed by the Israeli fans the night
    before the game. The other was a European tv news segment that
    corroborated this.

    I haven’t dug any further, and I believe readers are not allowed to post URLs.
    If permissible, I will dig farther to retrieve these URLs.
    Or in the possibly use Dropbox to hand off.

Leave a Reply

You must be an Urban Milwaukee member to leave a comment. Membership, which includes a host of perks, including an ad-free website, tickets to marquee events like Summerfest, the Wisconsin State Fair and the Florentine Opera, a better photo browser and access to members-only, behind-the-scenes tours, starts at $9/month. Learn more.

Join now and cancel anytime.

If you are an existing member, sign-in to leave a comment.

Have questions? Need to report an error? Contact Us