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New York, New York – New York Times columnist Bret Stephens and Anti-Defamation League (ADL) CEO Jonathan Greenblatt will lead a so-called “critical discussion” on antisemitism tonight.
The event, titled “The ‘Jew-Hunt’ Pogrom: It Could Happen Here,” runs from 6:30 PM to 7:45 PM at the Temple Emanu-El Streicker Cultural Center. The conversation will focus on Stephens’ recent New York Times opinion piece, “A Worldwide ‘Jew Hunt’.
Organized in partnership with the ADL, the event is open for both in-person and virtual attendance. Registration is required for all participants.
The “Jew Hunt” conversation plans to explore whether the Gaza War “caused the new eruption of antisemitism” or simply “uncorked the flow of ancient hatred.”
The discussion will also seek to critique the media for the alleged “downplaying [of] Jew-hating” and lay out potential “ways forward” to address these challenges.
Stephens was invited after publishing a November 12 opinion piece titled “A Worldwide ‘Jew Hunt,’” in which he characterized a November 7 clash in Amsterdam between Arab and Israeli soccer fans as an antisemitic pogrom.
However, the alleged “pogrom” was incited by the Israeli soccer hooligans themselves, whose provocative actions included tearing down Palestinian flags throughout the city and chanting “Death to the Arabs.”
After the violence subsided, Amsterdam City Councilman Jazie Veldhuyzen spoke to Al Jazeera, accusing Israeli fans of instigating the conflict.
“They began attacking houses of people in Amsterdam with Palestinian flags,” Councilman Jazie Veldhuyzen told Al Jazeera, “so that’s actually where the violence started.”
This rising tension appeared to carry over into other incidents.
Before the Israeli Maccabi vs. Dutch Ajax match, a moment of silence for victims of the recent Spanish floods was interrupted by large groups of Israeli fans—in reaction to Spain’s opposition toward Israel.
The Israelis would proceed to ignite fireworks and chant about destroying schools and killing children in reference to the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza.
After the Israeli team lost 5-0, agitating Israeli soccer hooligans were targeted by what appeared to be predominantly Arab mobs.
Some Israelis were brutally beaten, others were thrown into the canals, while some were offered clemency if they shouted “Free Palestine.” Many quickly complied.
In his piece, Stephens attempts to downplay the ghoulish Israeli chants by comparing them to the infamous “Ten German Bombers” song.
“Ten German Bombers” is a football chant that celebrates the killing of German army pilots by British gunners during World War II.
The comparison lacks key context, however. The earliest credible references to the “Ten German Bombers” chant at football matches date back to 2006—an entire 61 years after the end of World War II.
In addition to minimizing chants that celebrated the killing of Palestinian children, Stephens cites the Wall Street Journal to fabricate a conspiracy theory, claiming the riots were not a response to Israeli provocations but rather premeditated actions fueled by deep-seated antisemitism.
“…Earlier in the day, they [Israeli fans] had become a topic of discussion on popular messaging apps,” the article reads, ”where users were calling for a Jodenjacht, or ‘Jew Hunt.’”
Prior to that excerpt, the same article notes that these alleged messaging groups cite the day’s events as their inspiration, which undermines Stephens’ core premise of irrational, unreasoned antisemitism.
In an ironic twist, Stephens, Greenblatt, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and even the “Jew Hunt” event description compare the Amsterdam “pogrom” to the antisemitic rioting by Germans on November 9, 1938, known as Kristallnacht.
“Eighty-six years after mobs destroyed synagogues shattered shop windows and assaulted Jews in a spasm of hatred known as Kristallnacht,” the event promo reads, “Jews in Europe fled for their lives again, this time in Amsterdam.”
Kristallnacht, or the Night of the Broken Glass, is notable for occurring in the wake of the assassination of German diplomat Ernst vom Rath in Paris by Polish Jewish terrorist Herschel Grynszpan.
Similar to Stephens’ analysis of the violent football chants, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) describes the vom Rath assassination as a post facto justification for the Amsterdam riots.
“Nazi officials disguised the organized nature of the pogroms,” the USHMM Encyclopedia claims, “they described the actions as justifiable and spontaneous responses of the German population to the assassination of a German diplomatic official, Ernst vom Rath, in Paris.”
Further complicating matters in Amsterdam was the presence of Mossad agents within the group of Israeli fans.
Mossad, Israel’s national intelligence agency, was reported to be accompanying the fans, as noted by the Dutch newspaper Der Telegraaf two days before the riots:
“AMSTERDAM – Possible security risks surrounding the Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv next Thursday are a significant concern in Israel, according to sources close to the Israeli club. Alongside the club’s own security team, sources report that security agents from the Israeli intelligence service Mossad will also travel to ensure the players, coaches, staff members, and club officials are as well-protected as possible during their stay in the Netherlands.”
–Der Telegraaf on November 5, 2024
Nevertheless, the ADL’s Jonathan Greenblatt—who recently toured Europe with a stop in Amsterdam—appears to regard the “Jew Hunt” discussion as a matter of critical importance.
“What I saw, heard and felt in Europe has been nothing short of appalling,” Greenblatt said in USA Today, “and it should serve as an alarm bell for everyone in the United States – we’re next. This kind of terror could easily spread and appear on our shores.”
Jonathan Greenblatt is the CEO of the ADL, a “civil rights” organization focused on combating antisemitism and ‘hate.’ Since taking the role in 2015, he has emphasized the use of technology and political policy to address so-called ‘hate speech,’ advocating for stronger censorship of online content.
While Greenblatt initially concentrated on combating “right-wing antisemitism” following Trump’s 2016 election, he has since steered the ADL toward addressing “left-wing antisemitism,” particularly after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, raid on Israel.
Earlier this year, audio from a private meeting was leaked, revealing plans to launch an aggressive legal campaign aimed at prosecuting pro-Palestine activists on U.S. university campuses. Since then, many universities have effectively suppressed protests against Israel’s ongoing genocide in Palestine.
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