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Unrest and sporadic violence in the Dutch city of Amsterdam is ongoing in the wake of an incident last week in which Israeli soccer fans were targeted in what authorities have described as antisemitic attacks.

As the rate of antisemitic incidents increased across the globe following Hamas terrorists’ Oct. 7 attack last year on Israel, experts say the upcoming Trump administration could help the situation by combating antisemitism in U.S. institutions.

Following a soccer match between the Dutch team Ajax and the Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv last Thursday, dozens of attacks were reported against not only Maccabi fans but other Jews in the city streets. The attacks allegedly were spurred on by social media posts, with Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema reporting that “there is talk of people going on a Jew hunt” on the Telegram platform.

By Friday, at least 35 injuries were reported, with at least 62 suspects arrested.

In the days following the violence, rioting and unrest in Amsterdam continued. The Associated Press reported that “dozens of people armed with sticks and firecrackers set a tram on fire Monday night.” There have also been calls for more rioting as of Tuesday.

Violence targeting Jews has increased dramatically worldwide over the 12 months since the Hamas terrorist attack Oct. 7 that killed over 1,200 Israelis and took about 250 hostages in a rampage of rape, torture, and murder.

A report published in September by the U.S.-based Anti-Defamation League found that antisemitic incidents rose 1,000% in France, 818% in the Netherlands, 500% in Austria, 350% in Germany, 738% in Australia, 631% in South Africa, and sixfold in the U.K.

The Anti-Defamation League also found that antisemitic incidents in the U.S. soared 200% in the year following Oct. 7.

Rabbi Yaakov Menken, managing director of the Coalition for Jewish Values, joined “Washington Watch With Tony Perkins” on Tuesday to discuss the Amsterdam situation and the ongoing crisis of antisemitism.

“It’s a pogrom, a straight-out attack on Jews for being Jews,” Menken lamented. “Let’s not pretend it’s about Israel or politics when they just find anybody who looks appropriately Jewish and attacks them. Actually, there was a Ukrainian citizen who had to pull out his passport to prove he wasn’t Israeli, so they wouldn’t beat him up. It’s just an outrageous thing.”

Menken pointed out that the evidence shows that radicalized immigrants are largely responsible for the attacks.

“The thing is that the Dutch people are no longer with that attitude,” Menken said, adding later: “Today it’s about the immigrants. It is, unfortunately, radical Islam which has taken root and has found its way into Europe. The more immigration they get from those countries, the more it happens.”

“Of course,” he added, “they immediately demonize Trump when he said we can’t afford to be importing people from those countries where they’re inculcated to have violent attitudes and anti-American and anti-Jewish biases. … But of course, he was absolutely right.”

Following President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee as U.S. ambassador to Israel, Menken commended Trump for appointing Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., as ambassador to the U.N.

“[I]t’s almost trolling the Left, because here was this woman who was responsible more than any other one person for taking down the [American] university presidents and revealing that when it comes to the campuses, the emperor has no clothes,” Menken said. “They are tolerating racism and bigotry at the very time that they claim to value diversity. And what … does Trump do? He takes [Stefanik] and sends her to the U.N., which of course has been an antisemitic institution for a very long time. … [I]t really sends a message that antisemitism will not be tolerated on the international stage.”

Menken concluded by insisting that combating antisemitism in the U.S. must begin on college campuses.

“[T]he clean-up has to begin with the campuses,” he said. “The most powerful instigator of antisemitism in the United States is a national organization called Students for Justice in Palestine. It is on over 150 college campuses, where it’s being given university student organization funding and access to classrooms.”

“After Oct. 7, when the blood was not yet dry, they declared that their members were part of the Hamas movement and its pogrom,” Menken said. “The murders, the rapes, the kidnappings, they were part of it. … [W]hy are we, as a nation, sending funding to universities that hand some of that funding to organizations affiliated with a foreign, designated terrorist organization? Wouldn’t removing that funding or insisting that those organizations be removed from campus be a simple, straightforward step to stop antisemitism? Looks like it to me.”

Originally published by The Washington Stand