Amsterdam Pogrom, Protests Coordinated With ‘Extremist’ Network Linked to Former UNRWA Employee, Research Group Finds

"The violence against Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam last week was a premeditated and coordinated attack orchestrated with extremist networks linked to a former employee of the controversial United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), a group tracking online disinformation told The Algemeiner on Monday.

The Network Contagion Research Institute’s analysis of open-source intelligence and social media also ‘revealed that protests around the Maccabi Tel Aviv game in Amsterdam was not isolated but part of a broader, coordinated effort,’ said the group’s co-founder, Joel Finkelstein.

Amsterdam resident Ayman Nejmeh, who identified himself on social media as a former UNRWA employee, ‘has emerged as a key organizer, coordinating protest actions against Jewish targets,’ Finkelstein added.

Hundreds of Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer fans, who were visiting the Dutch capital for a game against the local Ajax team, were attacked by Arab and Muslim mobs on Thursday night, landing several in the hospital. It marked the largest mass-scale antisemitic incident in the Netherlands since the Holocaust, with attackers throwing firecrackers and stun grenades, calling for a ‘Jew hunt,’ and forcing Israelis to say ‘Free Palestine’ before beating them up...

Israel had issued a warning to Dutch security services ahead of the game that violence was likely to unfold after Islamic groups appeared to be coordinating a multifront attack on social media.

According to Finkelstein, the phone number of the Syrian-born Nejmeh was listed as an admin for one WhatsApp group utilized by the Palestinian diaspora group, PGNL. Nejmeh took over the group from Palestinian-Dutch national Amin Abou Rashed, who was arrested last year on suspicion of funneling funds to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas...

The coordination behind these events reflects a well-honed strategy by radical groups to use public gatherings to incite and escalate violence, Finkelstein said, warning that organized hate was far outpacing authorities’ ability to respond.

‘The ‘pogrom contagion’ spreading across Europe is no accident — terror-linked actors are deliberately weaponizing gatherings and social media to accelerate the spread of violence against Jewish communities,’ Finkelstein told The Algemeiner. ‘This infrastructure of hate is evolving faster than democratic defenses and, left unchecked, these threats multiply across both borders and ethnicities.’

Nejmeh’s Facebook profile, which contained at least one post extolling a Hamas operative for the terrorist group’s Al Qassam military wing, was in recent days purged of any mention of his ties to UNRWA..."