Following the attacks on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans in Amsterdam by pro-Palestinians, a Jewish Amsterdam resident, who spoke under the alias Levi, shared what's like being a Jew in the city, and how he has to hide his Jewish identity or pro-Israel stance.
"We should say this is a fake name, Levi. Why do you choose to speak with us? Not under your real name?
"Well, frankly, it's just not safe for me to be here with my face and with my real name, we see what happens to anyone in Amsterdam that really has any sort of relationship to Israel. So I'm not gonna take any risks."
Levi talks about life in Amsterdam
(צילום: ליאור שרון)
Levi, a few months ago, you were attacked by pro-Hamas protesters in Amsterdam, I assume the pogrom on Friday wasn't a surprise for you.
"No, it was not a surprise at all to be fair. We've seen pure Jew hatred and global antisemitism, and I've been a witness to it at my university. Even though they have not attacked Jews like that, just for being Jewish yet, we've seen now that they've been attacking Israelis and it was not a surprise for me at all."
Is it safe to be a young Jewish man in Amsterdam these days?
"Ever since October 7, we've seen the attacks in the universities. You cannot be openly pro-Israeli Zionist people don't even know the definition of Zionism to be fair. So, saying that you are a Zionist is not safe and I think 99% of the Jews are Zionists. I have a Star of David necklace. Usually, I don't wear it on the streets in Amsterdam. So, you're safe as long as you're not openly Jewish or pro-Israel."
So, what is the reason you still live and study in Amsterdam?
"Well, it's extremely sad that I don't even think that's an unfair question to ask. I'm fully Dutch, I'm from Amsterdam. I was born here. My parents are Dutch, My grandparents are Dutch, so for me to just move to another country, because of the fact that I cannot openly show a big very important part of my identity it's something I'm not gonna do now, but to be fair, I've been thinking about it, I've been talking about it, and it's not a crazy thing at all. But, yeah, let's hope I'm not forced to, and let's hope this is a tipping point for the government to show."
Speaking about the government, what are your thoughts on the authorities' actions towards the rising antisemitism, the riots against Jewish people, and Israeli soccer fans?
"Well, obviously there have been made a lot of mistakes. The fact that what happened on Thursday night, that's something like that can happen in Amsterdam, it's insane, we've all seen it coming. And the fact that our security agency apparently did not expect something like this to happen or at least did not maneuver themselves in such a way to prevent this from happening, it's crazy. Our coalition itself, our government itself is actually very pro-Jewish right now and a lot of politicians said that they are disturbed by the events. But there are also obviously a lot of politicians that are more lenient towards understanding, and some of them find to justify what happens. But our government itself right now is actually not antisemitic."
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