Following the recent outbreak of violence in Amsterdam, France is taking no chances as it prepares for the upcoming football match against Israel's national football team this Thursday. In a highly unusual move, 4,000 police officers will be deployed to secure the event, a reflection of the growing risk facing Israelis and France’s Jewish community. This escalation is not without cause. The troubling scenes in Amsterdam reveal a disturbing reality: violence against Jewish communities and Israelis is being rationalised, justified, and increasingly normalised under the guise of “resistance” or “support” for the Palestinian cause.
This phenomenon is not merely alarming—it is profoundly dangerous. Across Europe, what should have been peaceful protests in support of the Palestinian cause have instead devolved into riots, assaults, and vicious expressions of anti-Zionism. The notion that support for a cause, no matter how just one might feel it to be, could legitimise attacks on Jews or Israelis ought to be unthinkable. Yet here we are. The French government’s decision to secure a football match with a small army of police officers is an unsettling admission of the climate we now find ourselves in—a climate where the safety of Jewish communities can no longer be assumed, and where threats must be met with heavy security.
The tragedy here is twofold. First, it represents a complete collapse of the line between lawful protest and outright incitement. The notion of protest, of speaking out against perceived injustices, is one of the cornerstones of democratic society. But what we are seeing is not protest. It is something far darker. It is a rationalisation of violence, dressed up as resistance. We are witnessing, across Europe, the emergence of a mindset that sees attacks on Jews and Israelis as somehow morally defensible, as if their very identity makes them a fair target.
Second, and perhaps even more disturbingly, this moral abdication is increasingly accepted as reasonable. The tragic reality is that this form of violence is not just escalating; it is being excused. When violence against Israelis and Jews is justified as “support” for the Palestinian cause, it sets a terrifying precedent. It suggests that violence in support of a “noble” cause is somehow different, somehow tolerable. This is, of course, utter nonsense. Violence is violence. Hate is hate. And what we are seeing now, justified as it may be by some, is nothing less than a revival of the oldest hatred—dressed up for modern times, but no less dangerous.
The implications are enormous. The more violence is rationalised in this manner, the more it is unleashed upon not just Jews but anyone who falls afoul of these twisted standards. If Jewish people and Israelis can be targeted today, why not others tomorrow? Allowing the rationalisation of violence against one group erodes the very bedrock of a peaceful society. For a continent that has prided itself on tolerance, this growing trend represents nothing short of a betrayal of its core values.
And here we find ourselves, with thousands of police officers mobilised to prevent mayhem at a football match—a scene that should be one of sporting camaraderie but now stands as a symbol of Europe’s failure to confront a rising tide of hatred. The real question is this: how did we get to a point where mass security measures are required simply to protect Jewish fans from violent mobs? What does it say about Europe that we accept this as the new normal?
This moment demands a response. Europeans cannot stand idly by, offering weak condemnations and platitudes about peace. It is time to name this trend for what it is: a perverse rationalisation of violence, a willingness to justify attacks on Jews and Israelis in the name of political “solidarity.” The world has seen this before, and we know where it leads. We should have learned by now that excusing violence for any reason, no matter how noble it may seem, is a slippery slope.
Europe faces a choice: will it defend the principles of tolerance, safety, and dignity for all its citizens, or will it look the other way as ancient prejudices are revived under the guise of modern “resistance”? The answer to this question will shape the future of Jewish communities across Europe and beyond. If we do not act now to reaffirm the basic right of Jewish communities to live in peace, we will face a bleak future indeed.
The truth is simple: peace and security cannot be conditional. The violence we are witnessing against Jewish communities is indefensible, and it is the duty of all decent people to condemn it in the strongest terms. If we believe in a Europe that upholds the rights of all its citizens, then we must stand against this hatred without hesitation. If we fail to do so, we risk allowing the darkest parts of history to repeat themselves. Europe must decide what kind of continent it wishes to be, and time is running out to make that decision.
