First, identify your enemy

If the appalling events in Amsterdam two days ago are anything to go by, they should serve as the clearest indication as to identity of our enemy. Well, you would think so but so far, very few news outlets have identified the perpetrators other than to describe them as anti-Semitic thugs.

The reports I have read in The Times of Israel refer to eyewitness accounts of being attacked by men screaming free Palestine and speaking Arabic. Local taxi drivers were apparently also involved in what is believed to be a planned and co-ordinated attack against Israelis and Jews. The BBC has tried to link reports of Israeli football fans shouting racist comments and burning a Palestinian flag with the pogrom like attacks. Easy to say but not a theory that really holds water.

Irrespective of whether the perpetrators have been identified, it is impossible to escape the conclusion that these attacks were anything other than planned. Consider the numbers involved, what appeared to be organised groups searching out their Israeli (and Jewish) victims together with the assistance of various taxi drivers as well as the warnings from Israeli intelligence, you have all the hallmarks of a planned pogrom.

References have been made to Kristallnacht in November 1938 with scenes of organised men chasing Jews and beating them once caught were horrific. There were though some differences which make the attacks last Thursday more chilling. As far as I am aware there were no shops, schools or synagogues attacked. That wasn’t part of the plan. This was just about hurting as many Israeli and Jewish people as possible. Several accounts report that the attackers were yelling ‘free Palestine’ as they punched and kicked their victims.

Reports are also coming through that the local police either stood by or otherwise took too long to take any action. Apologies were issued by various leaders in the Netherlands, including the King who said ‘we failed the Jewish community during WWII, last night we failed again’.

So what lessons do we learn from this hideous night? Well, at the risk of sounding like a recording on an endless loop, it is the reality which so many Jewish and Western leaders have been so keen to ignore. Firstly many western countries are home to radical Islamists who are determined to destroy their host societies, starting with the Jews. This is absolutely nothing to do with Islamophobia despite the daft calls by those who seek to join that particular hatred with anti-Semitism. Secondly and just as significantly those who are tasked with policing society and seeking out radical Islamists are frightened of undertaking this task. If there is an attack involving a far-right element, certainly in the UK the authorities leap swiftly and noisily into action. If it involves radical Islamists, the police generally are nowhere to be seen, other than telling Jews not to advertise their ethnicity. Two tier policing is alive and well.

Put these two elements together, ie a significant rise of radical Islamist Jew-hating activity and a police force determined to ignore it, and there exists the perfect storm which emboldens attacks against Jews by those who can be fairly confident they will not be pursued or if caught, prosecuted. We know this; look at the hate convoy from Bradford who drove down to Jewish areas of North London and called over loudspeakers to rape and murder Jewish women. All charges were dropped for lack of evidence. You couldn’t make this up.

So what is the answer? Simple. Stop pretending that radical Islamism hasn’t taken hold all over Europe and do something about it. Stop the hate marches where they take place and take action against those who insist on spreading Jew-hatred. At the very least, leaders need to understand that we are just the first target in a campaign to destroy western democracy. It might sound hysterical, but sometimes just because something sounds unimaginable doesn’t mean it isn’t true. The clock is ticking.