CNA Staff, November 8, 2024 / 5:40 PM

After a group of Israeli football fans were beaten and taunted by groups of young men for being Jewish after a match in Amsterdam, an Austrian bishop condemned the violence and said it was, referring to Kristallnacht, “the darkest and most shameful days of our time.” calls. history.”

After a football match on Thursday evening between a Dutch and an Israeli team, at least ten young men on scooters searched for Israeli fans, verbally and physically assaulting them with punches and kicks, and then quickly fled the scene.

“They shouted ‘Jewish, Jewish, IDF, IDF’,” a 24-year-old victim told the BBC. The IDF, Israel Defense Forces, is the country’s army. Another victim said the attackers shouted “Palestine” as they bombarded him.

Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema characterized the violence as an “outburst of anti-Semitism,” while Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof called the attacks “unacceptable” and vowed to hold the perpetrators accountable.

Archbishop Franz Lackner of Salzburg, president of the Austrian bishops’ conference, described the event in an interview on November 8 as a “very alarming sign.”

He noted that the Amsterdam incident occurred just days ahead of the annual commemorations of Kristallnacht, the brutal pogroms the Nazis carried out against Jews in Germany, the annexed country of Austria and other Nazi-controlled areas. From November 9 to 10, 1938, the Nazis vandalized and destroyed hundreds of Jewish-owned businesses, synagogues, and homes.

Lackner called for prayers for peace in Israel and Palestine. He added that any ideology, including religious or political views, that permits or justifies violence against Jews has no place in society.

“We must oppose this,” he said.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog described the incident on social media as an “anti-Semitic pogrom.” Dutch King Willem-Alexander reportedly called Herzog to apologize for the incident.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government quickly arranged special flights to evacuate Jewish people from Amsterdam on Friday and Saturday.

The 1965 encyclical of Saint Paul VI Nostrae Aetate made clear the Church’s condemnation of hatred and violence against Jews and Judaism, denouncing all “hatred, persecution, expressions of anti-Semitism, directed against Jews at any time and by anyone” (Nostra Aetate4).

The US-based Anti-Defamation League has noted a sharp increase in anti-Semitic attacks and incidents since Hamas invaded Israel on October 7, 2023. According to that group, anti-Semitic incidents have increased by more than 350% in the first 100 years. days after the invasion.

According to the group’s data, the majority of these incidents involved “verbal or written harassment” or “rallies” involving anti-Semitic rhetoric and “expressions of support for terrorism against the State of Israel and/or anti-Zionism.” Dozens of cases of assault and hundreds of reports of vandalism were also recorded.

For their part, the Catholic bishops of the United States have condemned in recent years what they call a “re-emergence of anti-Semitism in new forms.” In a statement released before the start of the current Israel-Hamas conflict, the bishops called on Christians to join them in combating anti-Semitist acts and reminding the faithful of the shared heritage of Christianity and Judaism.