Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jewish community leaders in the Netherlands are inviting their Muslim counterparts to meet and try to find ways to reduce tensions caused by the war in Gaza. Divisions have deepened there and in France, following two recent soccer matches involving Israeli teams. Special correspondent, Malcolm Brabant, begins his report in Paris.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
[foreign language 00:00:25].
Malcolm Brabant (00:24):
"You're the terrorists," chant pro-Palestinian protesters, taunting French riot police, preventing them from reaching an international match between France and Israel.
Fatima Jaffar (00:36):
They say they're killing terrorists? They're not killing terrorists, they're killing children, women, and the elderly.
Nadia (00:42):
I want ceasefire, of course, but I want sanctions too because we have a genocide. Actually, we have a genocide in Palestine, so we have to put them in jail.
Abdul Karim (00:55):
The massacre continues for one year, and now we're dealing with a genocide. The numbers show us something like 50,000 dead but research by the Lancet tells us we're probably closer to 200,000 dead.
Speaker 7 (01:05):
Free, free Palestine.
Malcolm Brabant (01:10):
Thousands of officers were deployed to protect Israel's soccer fans, apart from about 100 most-heeded warnings to stay away. "Thanks to the police," they chanted after the game. The French operation prevented a repeat of violence in the Dutch capitol, Amsterdam, 10 days ago, when followers of a Tel Aviv soccer team were targeted by pro-Palestinian supporters.
Speaker 8 (01:33):
[foreign language 00:01:37].
Malcolm Brabant (01:36):
Israeli hooligans were accused of provoking trouble by tearing down Palestinian flags and chanting anti-Arab slogans, but the attacks that followed were widely characterized as a hunt for Jews, and community leaders were relieved there were no fatalities.
Esther Voet (01:55):
That really changed my view of this town. I don't feel welcome anymore, and I'm planning on leaving. It's been too much.
Malcolm Brabant (02:07):
Jewish newspaper editor, Esther Voet, is worried about her personal security and asked us to ensure that we didn't identify her home.
Esther Voet (02:15):
You can see it as a final straw because already on the 10th of March, we had huge things going on here with the opening of the Holocaust Museum, where Holocaust survivors and their great-grandchildren had to pass by very aggressive protesters.
Malcolm Brabant (02:37):
And, says Voet, there have been many other incidents of intimidation.
Esther Voet (02:40):
And nothing was done against it. Nothing is done, that is the scary part.
Ali Shanaa (02:46):
I think it's just continuing with playing the victim card, right?
Malcolm Brabant (02:50):
Palestinian data scientist, Ali Shanaa, has helped to organize some demonstrations in Amsterdam. His family became refugees in 1948, when Israel was created.
Ali Shanaa (03:00):
The people that we're referring to, while they might be Jewish, mainly they're Zionist, and that's why they're feeling uncomfortable. In my opinion, and I think in many other people's opinions, it's okay for them to feel uncomfortable if the reason for this discomfort is that they want to stand in support of a genocide and they don't want anyone speaking up against this genocide.
Malcolm Brabant (03:18):
The fallout from the violence almost led to the collapse of the governing coalition, but the government remains under the firm control of right-winger, Geert Wilders, who wants to deport those responsible for the anti-Semitic attacks. Berber Van der Woude is a former Dutch diplomat who served in the occupied territories and resigned over the Netherlands' Middle East policies.
Berber Van der Woude (03:39):
We have a Dutch government in power that is far right. They really instrumentalized this idea that there was basically program to use it as a stick to beat up basically the Arab communities in the Netherlands' Muslim communities.
Malcolm Brabant (04:01):
Muslims comprise 5% of the Dutch population, that's about 1 million people, whereas Jews number about 45,000, about a third of their pre-Holocaust strength.
(04:12)
This is a place of pilgrimage. It's where Anne Frank hid from the Nazis and wrote her diary until her betrayal in 1944. 80 years later, anti-Semitism has a different face.
Hans Weijel (04:24):
Jews are blamed for the bad things happening outside our community. I can't pick up the phone as a Dutch Jew, call Netanyahu, and ask him to stop it or to diminish it or whatever. He doesn't pick up the phone.
Malcolm Brabant (04:39):
Community leader, Hans Weijel, believes trouble is being orchestrated by a violent minority at his Prophet and Olive branch.
Hans Weijel (04:46):
There are imams who talk to our rabbis and there are laymen who talk to our laymen, but the problem is we don't hear any sound of let's say the leaders of the Muslim community who say anti-Semitism is wrong. You can't blame Jews in Holland, you can't blame Jews for what's happening in Israel.
Malcolm Brabant (05:09):
Back in Paris, Moroccan-born protester, Abdul Karim, insists it's wrong to depict the Gaza debate as a conflict between Islam and Jews.
Abdul Karim (05:19):
For the last 18 years, there's been a blockade in Gaza. Can you imagine a place as small as Gaza under a blockade? It's not just Muslims who are revolted by the situation.
Malcolm Brabant (05:30):
But the habit of linking all Jews to Israel's actions has exhausted Esther Voet.
Esther Voet (05:35):
Since October 7th, my world has shrunk. I don't go to a bar anymore, I lost friends or people who I thought were friends. You start hiding yourself and your circle is getting smaller with people you trust and that you can also talk about something else than only this huge problem.
Malcolm Brabant (05:59):
Half a mile away, the base of Anne Frank's statue is adorned with stones, a traditional Jewish sign of respect for the dead. They're also lamenting the return of anti-Semitism. For the PBS News Hour, I'm Malcolm Brabant in Amsterdam.