Fireworks have been ignited and eggs thrown as pro-Palestinian protesters gathered in Amsterdam the place a brand new National Holocaust Museum has been opened.
The Israeli president’s go to to the newly-opened National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam has sparked protests within the metropolis.
Thousands of protesters have been heard chanting “never again is now” and “ceasefire now” at Waterloo Square in central Amsterdam, close to the museum, which held a gap ceremony on Sunday and invited friends together with the Israeli president Isaac Herzog and Dutch King Willem-Alexander.
They additionally held Palestinian flags and indicators that mentioned “Jews against genocide” and “the grandchild of a holocaust survivor says: Stop Gaza Holocaust”.
Dutch Jewish anti-Zionist group Erev Rave organised the protest with the Dutch Palestinian Community and Socialists International, whereas human rights group Amnesty International put up detour indicators across the museum to direct Mr Herzog to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
The protest organisers emphasised they have been protesting in opposition to Mr Herzog’s presence and the warfare in Gaza, not the museum and what it commemorates.
“For us Jews, these museums are part of our history, of our past,” mentioned Joana Cavaco, an anti-war activist with the Erev Rav Jewish collective, addressing the gang forward of the ceremony.
“How is it possible that such a sacred space is being used to normalise genocide today?”
The Rights Forum, a pro-Palestinian Dutch organisation, known as Mr Herzog’s presence “a slap in the face of the Palestinians who can only helplessly watch how Israel murders their loved ones and destroys their land”.
Addressing the inauguration of the museum, Mr Herzog mentioned: “Friends, I am deeply grateful to everyone that has supported the establishment of this new Holocaust museum. At this pivotal moment in time, this institution sends a clear, powerful statement: remember.
“Remember the horrors born of hatred, antisemitism and racism. And by no means once more permit them to flourish. Unfortunately, ‘by no means once more’ is correct now. Because proper now, hatred and antisemitism are flourishing worldwide, and we should battle it, collectively.”
The Israeli president did not acknowledge the protests in his address and a spokesperson for the president declined to comment on them.
Mr Herzog was among Israeli leaders cited in an order by the top United Nations court earlier this year for Israel to do all it can to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in Gaza.
He accused the International Court of Justice of misrepresenting his comments in the ruling in January. Israel strongly rejected allegations levelled by South Africa in the court case that the military campaign in Gaza breaches the Genocide Convention.
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“I was disgusted by the way they twisted my words, using very, very partial and fragmented quotes, with the intention of supporting an unfounded legal contention,” Mr Herzog mentioned days after the ruling.
In an announcement issued forward of Sunday’s opening, the Jewish Cultural Quarter, which runs the museum, mentioned it was “profoundly concerned by the war and the consequences this conflict has had, first and foremost for the citizens of Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.”
It mentioned that it’s “all the more troubling that the National Holocaust Museum is opening while war continues to rage. It makes our mission all the more urgent.”
The museum is housed in a former trainer coaching school that was used as a covert escape route to assist some 600 Jewish kids to flee from the clutches of the Nazis.
The variety of Palestinians killed in Israel’s navy offensive for the reason that 7 October Hamas assaults has surpassed 31,000, in line with the Hamas-run well being ministry in Gaza.
Israel has accused the ministry of inflating its numbers, however in earlier wars, its figures have held as much as United Nations scrutiny, impartial investigations and even Israel’s figures.
Source: information.sky.com”