World
Netanyahu condemns antisemitic pogrom in Amsterdam, warns world leaders attacks will spread if don't act
JERUSALEM – On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the worst antisemitic pogrom against Jews of this century in Europe.
Netanyahu directed his blistering remarks at the violent antisemitic mob attack against Israelis that unfolded in the Dutch city of Amsterdam on Thursday. “We will never allow the atrocities of history to recur. We will never capitulate to antisemitism or terrorism,” he said.
He added, “A clear line connects the two antisemitic attacks against Israel that we have seen recently on Dutch soil: The reprehensible legal assault against the State of Israel at the International Court in The Hague, and the violent assault against Israeli citizens on the streets of Amsterdam. In both cases, there was dangerous antisemitism, the goal of which was to render helpless the Jews and their state, to deny our state the right of self-defense and to deny our citizens their very right to life.
“Yesterday we marked Kristallnacht … It was a brutal and violent assault against Jews just because they were Jews. Unfortunately, in recent days we saw pictures that recalled that night. On the streets of Amsterdam, antisemitic rioters attacked Jews, Israeli citizens, just because they were Jews.”
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Netanyahu warned that, “Attacks of this kind threaten not only Israel but endanger the entire world. We have learned something from history: Wild attacks that start against Jews, never end with the Jews. In the end, they spread to all of society, and pass from country to country until they burn all of humanity. Therefore, I expect and demand that every responsible government take strong, vigorous, clear and urgent action.”
Adding to the anger against Dutch authorities, the leader of the Party for Freedom, Geert Wilders, blasted leaders in Amsterdam for failing to arrest the perpetrators.
Writing on X yesterday he said, “I am speechless. Amsterdam Police just confirmed that NO ONE has been arrested during the Islamic Jewhunt in Amsterdam on Thursday night. All arrests have been made before and during the soccer match and NOT during the pogrom.”
The Dutch politician urged that Amsterdam’s left-wing mayor Femke Halsema resign straight away.
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Halsema, who comes from the Dutch Green party, called the violence “an eruption of antisemitism that we had hoped never again to see in Amsterdam,” according to The Associated Press.
Meanwhile new information has emerged about the highly organized antisemitic attacks on Jews in a city where Nazi collaborators infamously abandoned the German Jewish adolescent Anne Frank, who was in hiding, to the Nazis during World War Two.
The Holland Casino in Amsterdam reported that after Israelis fled into the casino for refuge, a security guard who worked for the casino “had indeed sent messages in the app group” that was looking to harm the Israelis.
According to Holland Casino’s statement, “Measures were promptly taken, and the employer was informed that this person is no longer welcome at Holland Casino. Employees of Holland Casino or those of companies hired by Holland Casino must prioritize the interests of Holland Casino, our guests and our staff. This did not happen in this case. Moreover, there is no place within Holland Casino for any form of violence, discrimination or antisemitism.”
The Israeli news agency TPS-IL reported that the Rabbi and volunteers from the Chabad House in Amsterdam and an Israeli Druze man had played a role in aiding the victims.
“The night before the game, there were skirmishes between Israeli fans and local Arabs. So when we started to hear news about the confrontation after the game, we first did not realize the scope of what was happening,” Rabbi Dovi Pinkovitch, head of the Chabad House in the center of Amsterdam, told TPS-IL.
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The rabbi mobilized local Jews and Israelis living in Amsterdam to assist Israelis trapped in the streets, getting them safely to hotels. “There were cases when local taxis took the Israelis towards the center of the clashes instead of bringing them to safety, so we understood we need to help. The volunteers, in their private cars, worked all night long to get hundreds of Israelis to the hotels,”
An Israeli Druze named Melchem Assad gave vital early warnings to Israelis about the violent assaults taking place. As he was exiting the train on his way from the game to the hotel, he noticed a group of men speaking Arabic about beating those wearing a blue scarf and speaking Hebrew. So he returned to the train station and ordered the arriving groups of Israelis to take off the Maccabi Tel Aviv symbols, disperse and not speak Hebrew.
Assad told TPS-IL that by his estimation, he managed to help at least a hundred and fifty Israelis. “I have a baby boy at home and my heart was beating hard as I was approaching that group. But I am an Israeli, and I knew I had nothing to do but to help if I could.”
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According to the Times of Israel, King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands told the Israeli president in a readout that “We failed the Jewish community of the Netherlands during World War II, and last night we failed again.”
Amsterdam’s population is roughly 920,000 people, with about 20,000 Jews. Prior to the Holocaust, 80,000 Jews lived in Amsterdam. A total of 40,000 Jews live in the Netherlands. There are roughly one million Muslims in the northern European country, and 90,000 Muslims reside in Amsterdam.
Wim Kortenoeven, a former Dutch MP in Wilders’ party and a Middle East expert told Fox News Digital that “The Dutch police forces have been Islamized to the extent that the Muslims cops now feel confident to refuse protecting Jewish institutions for reasons of ‘conscience,” he claimed.
Echoing a report in the Jerusalem Post in October quoting two Jewish police officers, Kortenoeven noted, “Only last month this came into the open with Jewish cops in Amsterdam blowing the whistle about that, warning in the media that Jewish targets under threat of terrorist attack may therefore not be protected. They were proven right this weekend when over a thousand extra police were not willing to effectively protect Jewish Israeli football under attack from Muslim mobs.”
Kortenoeven, who now lives in Israel, added that “Such a massive force can only deliberately be so ineffective. Witnesses and victims also testified that the police remained passive in the face of the Muslim aggressors. There were no arrests either. The arrest that were made this weekend did not involve the Arabs attacking the Jews. Meanwhile, the authorities refused to properly identify the Muslim mobs and hit teams, calling them ‘guys on scooters.’”
Halsema declined to note at Friday’s news conference that the alleged perpetrators were Muslim and of Moroccan origin, noted Dutch critics of Islamism. The mayor’s office said in a press release that the suspects were merely “scooter youths,” in a reference to the popular mode of city transportation used by young Dutch Arabs.
On Sunday, Fox News Digital approached the Amsterdam police department for a comment.
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US citizen among 4 dead in Laos after suspected alcohol poisoning
An American, two Danes and one Australian tourist died after drinking tainted alcohol in Laos following reports that several people had been sickened in a town popular with backpackers.
The only victim’s identity publicly released so far is 19-year-old Bianca Jones of Australia.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told Parliament on Thursday that Jones had died after being evacuated from Vang Vieng, Laos, for treatment in a Thai hospital. Her friend, also 19, remains hospitalized in neighboring Thailand.
“This is every parent’s very worst fear and a nightmare that no one should have to endure,” Albanese said, according to The Associated Press. “We also take this moment to say that we’re thinking of Bianca’s friend Holly Bowles, who is fighting for her life.”
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Shaun Bowles told reporters outside Bangkok Hospital on Wednesday that his daughter remained in critical condition and on life support.
“We just like to thank everyone from back home for all of the support and love that we’re receiving,” he said. “But we’d also like the people to appreciate right now, we just need privacy so we can spend as much time as we can with Holly.”
Australian media said Jones was the fourth foreign tourist to die after consuming the contaminated alcohol.
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“The physician who examined her said the cause of death was a methanol poisoning, from fake liquor,” Phattanawong Chanphon, a police official in the Thai city, told Reuters. “The amount of methanol in her body was high, leading to swelling of the brain.”
Counterfeit liquor is a problem in Laos, with the governments of Australia and Britain warning citizens to be cautious when having drinks there.
Methanol is a toxic alcohol that is used industrially as a solvent, pesticide and alternative fuel source, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The U.S. Department of State did not respond to a Fox News Digital inquiry, but told the AP that local authorities were investigating the case and were responsible for providing any details. The State Department noted that the U.S. was providing consular assistance.
“At this time I would say to parents, to young people, please have a conversation about risks, please inform yourselves, please let’s work together to ensure this tragedy doesn’t happen again,” Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said after receiving news of Jones’ death.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this request.
World
UK imposes sanctions on Isabel dos Santos, Ukrainian oligarch Firtash
The measures are a part of the Labour government tightening Britain’s anti-corruption sanctions regime.
The United Kingdom has barred Angolan billionaire Isabel dos Santos and Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash and frozen their UK assets, the government announced, in what it said was part of a new crackdown on “dirty money”.
The measures on Thursday were the first step in tightening Britain’s anti-corruption sanctions regime as promised in July’s election, the Labour government said.
“These unscrupulous individuals selfishly deprive their fellow citizens of much-needed funding for education, healthcare and infrastructure – for their own enrichment,” Foreign Secretary David Lammy said in a statement.
Dos Santos, whose father Jose Eduardo dos Santos served as Angola’s president for 38 years until 2017, is Africa’s first female billionaire and has faced corruption accusations in Angola and elsewhere for years. She denies the allegations and says she is the target of a long-running political vendetta.
She was sanctioned by the United States in 2021 for “involvement in significant corruption” and is barred from entering the country.
Britain said dos Santos abused her positions at Angolan state oil firm Sonangol and telecoms company Unitel to embezzle at least 350 million pounds ($440m).
Dos Santos lost an appeal to overturn an order freezing up to 580 million pounds of her assets in September as part of a lawsuit at London’s High Court brought by Unitel. Global police agency Interpol has issued a red notice for her.
In a statement cited by the Reuters news agency, dos Santos said that the British sanctions were “incorrect and unjustified”.
“I was not given the opportunity to defend myself against these allegations,” she said. “I intend to appeal and I hope that the United Kingdom will give me the opportunity to present my evidence.”
Firtash is wanted by Ukrainian and US authorities on suspicion of embezzling nearly $500m involving Ukraine’s gas transit system. He says the charges are without legal foundation.
He is currently in Austria fighting extradition to the US.
In June 2021, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree imposing sanctions on Firtash, including the freezing of his assets and withdrawal of licences from his companies, after accusing him of selling titanium products to Russian military companies.
Britain said Firtash had extracted “hundreds of millions of pounds from Ukraine through corruption”, and hidden tens of millions of pounds of ill-gotten gains in the UK property market alone.
Britain also sanctioned his wife Lada Firtash, who it said held UK assets on his behalf including the site of the old Brompton Road rail station of the London Underground.
Latvian businessman and politician Aivars Lembergs, who was put on a US sanctions list in 2019 for alleged corruption, was also sanctioned, as was his daughter Liga Lemberga. The British government said Lembergs had “abused his political position to commit bribery and launder money.”
Lammy said the penalties were the start of a crackdown.
“I committed to taking on kleptocrats and the dirty money that empowers them when I became foreign secretary, and these sanctions mark the first step in delivering this ambition,” he said.
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