The Amsterdam pogrom and antisemitism in Biden's America

(JNS) — An Israeli broadcast journalist reporting on world leaders who condemned the pogrom in Amsterdam paused after quoting tweets by U.S. President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to ask a snide rhetorical question.

“And guess who hasn’t responded to the antisemitic attacks in The Netherlands?” she said, sneering with unadulterated schadenfreude. 

“Donald Trump,” she answered, enunciating each syllable for effect, adding sarcastically that “he must be preoccupied with other matters.”

Unlike this media figure and so many of her colleagues in the biz, the majority of Israelis, who heaved a sigh of relief over Trump’s clean-sweep victory on Nov. 5, believe that the president-elect is, indeed, very busy at the moment—you know, assembling a crew that in no way resembles the current one.

It’s true, however, that Biden and Blinken were pretty prompt, and rightly so, in their response to the ambush on Thursday night.

“The antisemitic attacks on Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam are despicable and echo dark moments in history when Jews were persecuted,” Biden tweeted on Friday. “We’ve been in touch with Israeli and Dutch officials and appreciate Dutch authorities’ commitment to holding the perpetrators accountable. We must relentlessly fight antisemitism, wherever it emerges.”

Blinken wrote: “There is no place in our world for antisemitic attacks like those against Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam yesterday. The United States stands with the Dutch and Israeli governments in strongly condemning these horrible acts of violence and antisemitism in all its forms.”

All well and good. But Team Biden has some nerve to highlight Jew-hatred in Holland while remaining silent on the phenomenon that’s been busting out all over the United States throughout its nearly four-year tenure, particularly since Oct. 7, 2023.

In the immediate aftermath of the invasion of Israel by thousands of Hamas terrorists—who slaughtered 1,200 men, women and children in their beds and at a music festival; committed rapes and decapitations; set homes and people on fire; and abducted some 250 people, living and dead, to the terror tunnels of Gaza—there was an unprecedented explosion of antisemitism across America.

Campuses around the country were overtaken by mobs rooting for Israel’s annihilation (with chants of: “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Must Be Free”) and calling for a “globalization of the intifada.” Though clearly a well-oiled campaign, heftily funded from outside academia, students and faculty jumped happily on the bandwagon. 

Nor were these protests aimed “merely” at Israel. On the contrary, the pro-Palestinian-terrorism activists haven’t even bothered concealing that their real animosity is toward Jews. Ditto for the daily violence committed against members of the tribe strolling to synagogue, taking their kids to school, eating at kosher restaurants or simply breathing in public.

The only reason the horrifying numbers aren’t higher is that not all Jews are outwardly recognizable as such. The bulk of cases of harassment, bullying and killing, therefore, almost invariably involve Orthodox Jews, whose garb and other symbols make them more visible to antisemites. 

What have Biden (who boasts of being a “Zionist” at heart), Blinken (himself a Jew) or Vice President Kamala Harris (who’s married to a Jew) done to quash antisemitism in the “land of the free and the brave”? 

Less than zilch. If anything, they’ve exhibited tacit acceptance.

One method is through vague language about “hate crimes.” Not that they’ve tackled any form of crime at all, either. They’ve been behaving like the owners of chain stores, locking up the Tylenol and toothpaste rather than the shoplifters who brazenly steal whatever’s not chained down.

Nor have the powers-that-be in D.C. made the slightest effort to demand that state and city law-enforcement agencies or courts crack down on the villains ruining the lives of hard-working, tax-paying citizens.

Meanwhile, they’re continuing to wag fingers at Israel for imaginary “crimes” in Gaza, going as far as to withhold weapons and threaten additional military sanctions. So, their “condemnations” about the Amsterdam atrocity—on the eve of the 86th anniversary of Kristallnacht, no less—are hollow, if not utterly worthless.

Trump may not have spoken up about the Islamist immigrant hooligans in Holland, but he’s been unequivocal in his promise to prevent similar future calamities at home. 

At an event last month in Florida commemorating the Oct. 7 massacre, he declared: “I will defend our American-Jewish population. I will protect your communities, your schools, your places of worship and your values. We will remove the jihadist sympathizers and Jew-haters. We’re going to remove the Jew-haters who do nothing to help our country; they only want to destroy [it].”

Remarks like these aren’t responsible for the widespread support he enjoys in Israel, however. No, that’s something he earned for policies he implemented when in the Oval Office prior to being replaced by Biden on Jan. 20, 2017.

The following is a partial list of his administration’s accomplishments, which in the Jewish state are only dismissed, if not opposed, by the shrinking elitist echo chamber of the chattering classes:

It recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, then vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution denouncing the move and transferred the U.S. embassy there from Tel Aviv. It canceled the 2015 nuclear deal with the Iranian regime. It blocked a UNSC statement calling for an independent investigation into the deaths of Palestinians along the Israel-Gaza border, caused during violent weekly protests spurred and funded by Hamas. This is because it accepted Israel’s insistence that the killings had been carried out in self-defense.

It vetoed a UNSC resolution calling for “international protection” for Palestinian civilians—due to the understanding that the only Palestinian “civilians” in danger were those attacking Israelis with knives, fire bombs, rocks and rockets.

It confirmed that it would cease UNRWA funding over the body’s anti-Israel activities and perpetuation of a false refugee problem. It closed the Palestine Liberation Organization mission in Washington and subsequently revoked the visas of the PLO envoy and his family members, forcing them to leave the United States. It cut $10 million of funding for bogus “conflict resolution” programs aimed at bringing about reconciliation between Fatah in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza, and for Jews and Arabs in Israel.

In its annual global human-rights report, its State Department replaced the word “occupied” with “Israeli-controlled” in its reference to the Golan Heights (and the West Bank). The significance of this change in language became apparent when Trump signed a presidential proclamation recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan and published an official map reflecting the new reality.

Team Trump also designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization. For all of the above and more, most Israeli Jews, unlike their American counterparts, have faith in the president-elect’s vow to combat antisemitism—not just spout empty words about it.