Jetten urges Dutch Jews to stay as Kristallnacht is commemorated in Amsterdam

Commemoration in Amsterdam

The national Kristallnacht commemoration was held on Monday, 9 November 2026, in the Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam, a full and heavily guarded venue where armed marechaussees kept watch. The service marked 88 years since the night of 9 to 10 November 1938, when Nazis destroyed Jewish shops, homes and synagogues across Germany and attacked and killed Jews. Prime Minister Rob Jetten gave the address, the first speech by a Dutch prime minister at the commemoration in ten years, according to NOS. Holocaust survivor Rolf Kamp and Chanan Hertzberger, chairman of the Central Jewish Consultation (Centraal Joods Overleg, CJO), also spoke. An alternative commemoration was held at the Jewish Resistance Monument, where speakers called for shared responsibility and solidarity and drew attention to violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank.

Jetten's warning and the government response

Jetten placed the lesson of history at the centre of his speech. He said the Hamas attack in Israel on 7 October 2023 was 'the ultimate proof' that violence against Jews is never far away, and he applied the same warning to the present day. He put it in one sentence:

“The lesson of history is that violence against Jews is never far away. Not in our time either.”

Jetten described antisemitism as having returned after never really leaving, a smouldering peat fire whose flames of hatred flare up again. He said such expressions now reach people unfiltered through public debate and social media, and that some events are being cancelled out of fear. There is 'no excuse' for threats or violence against synagogues, Jewish schools, restaurants or Jewish Dutch people who do not want to hide their identity.

The cabinet has set aside extra money for the protection of Jewish buildings, but Jetten said more is needed than additional police posts. He wants Jewish life strengthened nationally, in consultation with the Jewish community and the National Coordinator for Combating Antisemitism, and he said society must become more resilient against antisemitism. He also urged Jews considering leaving the Netherlands to stay.

“I would ask those people: do not give in to it. This is also your home.”

Jetten said he had attached a Delft blue mezuzah to his front door after hearing that many Jews remove theirs out of fear of negative reactions.

Hertzberger's speech and the Red Line protest

Chanan Hertzberger thanked Jetten for not responding to the demands of the organisers of the Red Line demonstration, which took place on Sunday, 8 November 2026. Those demands included a full Dutch arms embargo against Israel and recognition of genocide against Palestinians. The organisers put attendance at at least 200,000, while other reports spoke of hundreds of thousands of demonstrators. Hertzberger said the demands amounted, directly or indirectly, to Israel being wiped off the map.

Hertzberger called the accusation of genocide a lie that 'now marches through the streets weekly'. He said the majority of Dutch Jews are Zionist, by which he means they recognise Israel's right to exist as a 'safe, independent state'. He argued that only a judge can decide whether genocide is taking place in Gaza, noting that an independent UN commission of inquiry had already concluded in 2025 that Israel commits genocide in Gaza and in the occupied West Bank.

Hertzberger said Jews are being held collectively responsible for Israel's conduct and pushed to the margins of Dutch society. He made the point with a question about where the accusation is aimed:

“Who in Arnhem, in Groningen, in Amsterdam gets confronted with this so-called genocide? Us. The Jews. In our own city. In our own street.”

He closed by asking what remembrance is worth if people look away today, and said society must actually act against antisemitism.