French lawmaker defends antisemitic assault on Israelis in Amsterdam

The French lawmaker Marie Mesmeur defended the violent antisemitic attacks on Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam over the weekend. She accused the Israelis of being racist and supporting the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.

"These people here were not lynched because they were Jewish, but instead because they were racist and supported a genocide," Mesmeur wrote on 𝕏 on Friday.

Israel, the United States, and most Western democracies have dismissed the accusations against Israel, asserting that its conduct in the war remains within the bounds of international law.

At least 10 Israeli soccer fans were injured on Thursday evening in the Netherlands after they were brutally attacked by Arab and Muslim gangs. The antisemitic attack, which was described as a pogrom, was swiftly condemned by leaders in Israel, the U.S. and throughout Europe.

Dutch right-wing coalition leader Geert Wilders, a vocal supporter of the Jewish state, strongly condemned the antisemitic attack in Amsterdam.

“Pogrom in the streets of Amsterdam. We have become the Gaza of Europe. Muslims with Palestinian flags hunting down Jews. I will NOT accept that. NEVER. The authorities will be held accountable for their failure to protect the Israeli citizens. Never again,” Wilders vowed.

Mesmeur now faces backlash for her controversial post on 𝕏.

Carole Delga, president of the Regional Council of Occitania, blasted Mesmeur for justifying hatred against Jews.

"Each of your words damages the [French] Republic a little more. This endorsement of violence and antisemitism is destructive." Delga stated.

French senator, Laurence Rossignol, also condemned Mesmeur’s statement.

"When we confuse terrorism and resistance, mass rapes and heroism, it's no wonder we end up justifying lynching!" Rossignol said.

Loïg Chesnais-Girard, the president of Bretagne, echoed similar sentiments.

"To justify a lynching is to endorse the methods of those you claim to be fighting. Against racism and antisemitism, the Republic must never respond with violence!"

Jewish organizations have also condemned Mesmeur’s statement.

The International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism (LICRA) accused the French lawmaker of justifying "pogromist violence," while French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau has reported Mesmeur to the Paris Prosecutor.

Mesmeur responded to the widespread criticism by justifying her controversial post and labeling her critics as “propagandists” and arguing that she needs "no lessons to learn from those who sully the necessary fight against antisemitism with their dirty political tactics or their racist agenda."

"What is just as unbearable is that politicians and journalists are suggesting that these organized Israeli criminal hooligans who committed and sang atrocities were attacked because they were Jewish," she said.

"However, this is not the case. They were attacked following this chain of violence. Some people consider us antisemitic because we refuse to say that these people were attacked because they were Jewish," she added.

The French lawmaker claimed the Israeli soccer fans "called for the killing of Arabs in public and took up genocidal and pro-Netanyahu chants."

While footage on social media showed that some Israeli soccer fans did chant anti-Arab slogans, the Dutch paper De Telegraaf reported on Friday that the attack on the Israelis was pre-planned and organized as a "Jew hunt" in a Telegram group.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu noted that the antisemitic pogrom in Amsterdam took place ahead of the 86th anniversary of the infamous Nazi-perpetrated Kristallnacht.

“Tomorrow, 86 years ago, was Kristallnacht, when Jews on European soil were attacked for being Jews. This has now recurred. This was marked yesterday in the streets of Amsterdam,” Netanyahu stated.

“There is only one difference: The State of the Jews has arisen. We need to deal with it,” the prime minister said.