Want to see what a "dark night of fascism" really looks like? Don't look to Washington DC -- look to Amsterdam instead. After a soccer match between Israeli and Dutch teams, a mob swooped down on fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv, waving Palestinian flags and reviving some very, very bad memories in Holland.

This is what a dark night of fascism actually looks like:

Sky News' reporter in Israel notes that this took place on the eve of the anniversary of Krystallnacht in 1938:

As my friend and Commentary editor John Podhoretz put it:

No more easy Hitler analogies, people. Stop amusing yourself with factitous comparisons. Enough. Hitler is in Amsterdam tonight. That's what it looks like, you fools.

— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) November 8, 2024

The Israeli government decried the attack as a "pogrom," and raced to send evacuation flights to the Netherlands. They also believe that the attacks were planned and coordinated by immigrant gangs, and are demanding explanations from the Dutch government:

Israeli soccer fans came under an apparently organized, widespread attack by anti-Israel rioters in Amsterdam Thursday night following a match. Dutch security forces appeared helpless to protect the tourists as they were ambushed by gangs of masked assailants who shouted pro-Palestiniian slogans as they hunted, beat and harassed the Israelis.

Israeli officials said 10 citizens were injured. Up to 10 people were at one point out of contact with their families, but by 3 p.m. Friday all were accounted for following the hours of overnight violence, apparently perpetrated largely by local Muslims and Arabs. Hundreds more people huddled in their hotels for hours, fearing they could be attacked again when trying to reach their flights home. ...

Dutch authorities said by morning that the situation had calmed down. Early on Friday morning, Israel’s Foreign Ministry advised all Israeli citizens not to leave their hotels as it worked with local authorities to ensure their safety. At 9 a.m. it put out updated instructions, saying local security forces had been deployed, and it was safe to head to the airport. At the same time, it said they should avoid displaying Israeli and Jewish symbols on the streets.

Amsterdam police said five people were hospitalized and released by the afternoon, and 62 were arrested. The police said that they had started a major investigation into multiple violent incidents. Officials denied rumors that some people had been taken hostage.

Fortunately, the Dutch government and political classes across the spectrum are condemning this. It still doesn't answer the question of how this was allowed to unfold on this scale, and why Israelis and Jews had to hide in Amsterdam last night until the Israelis could start exfiltrating them from Europe. King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands offered the clearest statement of all:

POWERFUL WORDS from King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands: “We failed the Jews in World War II; last night we failed again.”

History is repeating, and silence is complicity. We must stand strong, call out the hatred, and make sure this NEVER happens again. ✡️ pic.twitter.com/P9DpaRDVDI

— Hananya Naftali (@HananyaNaftali) November 8, 2024

The first flights have returned to Israel as if this writing. All of the players and Israeli citizens are now accounted for, which makes this an easier chapter to close.

What can we learn from this? Anti-Semitism and worse still exists, it still exists in Europe, and it has been largely imported over the last 13 years. It demonstrates that massive and uncontrolled migration into Europe has destabilized its social order significantly, to the point of chaos, and it has changed the character of its nations. There's a lesson in that even apart from anti-Semitism and Europe. 

And once again, it proves the necessity of the Jewish state of Israel. Without it, Jews would be left at the mercy of mobs, without any hope of refuge in a place where Jews can defend themselves. Sadly enough, that applies in America too, where anti-Semitic mobs at our universities have tried to launch pogroms of their own.