The Israeli embassy in the Dutch city of The Hague was attacked on Thursday with a “burning object.” Police are investigating whether the object was a Molotov cocktail, but did not describe it in greater detail. While no one was injured and the building suffered only minor fire damage, the incident has raised questions over whether the site had been provided with enough security.
According to Nieuw Israëlitisch Weekblad, since February, a police emergency order has been in effect at the embassy, allowing police to stop, question, and turn away suspicious persons. Black screens had also been installed to prevent incidents such as the one witnessed last Thursday.
One suspect, an otherwise unidentified 25-year-old man from Amsterdam, has since been detained, Hague police report, as they announced they had launched an investigation and had cordoned off the area.
In a press release, they also said they had found a backpack, which is being examined.
The Israeli embassy reacted with shock. “It is unacceptable that such an attack can take place in the Netherlands,” a statement on X reads. “This proves the dangerous consequences of the worrying trend of increasing hatred and incitement. This hatred cannot be tolerated.”
Outgoing PM Mark Rutte called the attack “unacceptable,” adding that while “criticism is allowed,” this should “never lead to violence.”
On X, Senator Annabel Nanninga, of the conservative JA21 party, responded: “My goodness. History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes. Horrifying.”
Following the massacre of Israeli civilians by Hamas on October 7th and Israel’s subsequent military response, the CIDI group, which monitors antisemitism, reported a huge spike in the number of antisemitic incidents: in the month of October alone, 107 incidents were registered in the Netherlands, while for the whole of 2022, 155 had been reported. As of February 7th 2024, the organization had received several hundreds of reports of antisemitism this year alone.
In its annual Monitor report, due to be published sometime in March, it will present a “comprehensive analysis” of the growing antisemitism in the Netherlands.
Thursday’s incident is reminiscent of the protests—during which protesters whistled and shouted offensive slogans, with one Holocaust survivor being booed and jeered—surrounding the opening of the National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam on March 11th. These protests were allowed to take place close to the ceremony—the ultimate responsibility for which falls on Amsterdam’s socialist mayor, Femke Halsema.
Amsterdam’s city council held a meeting about the protests, at which Halsema defended her actions—or lack thereof. Halsema’s failure to make proper preparations to guarantee the ceremony be kept safe and undisturbed drew no criticism from her main coalition partners or the leftist parties from the opposition.
On X, nationalist PVV leader and potential prime minister Geert Wilders suggested that the “appropriate” course of action for Halsema should be to “step down and resign.”
