Jewish man’s Amsterdam home vandalized after Oct. 7 Hamas attack memorial

The police are investigating a break-in and vandalism of a home belonging to a Jewish man in the Buitenveldert neighborhood in Amsterdam-Zuid. The police confirmed a report from De Telegraaf. “We are taking this matter very seriously,” a police spokesperson said.

Many items belonging to the man were destroyed during the break-in on Wednesday. The police would not say whether anything was stolen.

De Telegraaf reported that the man was possibly followed by anti-Israel demonstrators after the commemoration on Dam square of Hamas’s attack in Israel on October 7. The police could not confirm this. “We are still at the start of this investigation and are considering all kinds of scenarios. We are not going to speculate about the cause.”

Anybody who has seen anything related to the incident has been asked to report the information to the police.

The municipality is organizing a meeting for local residents soon. "I can imagine that there is unrest in the neighborhood," said Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema, who visited the victim on Thursday morning. "A Jewish-Israeli man, he is very shocked, and I completely understand that."

The mayor called the incident a horrible burglary. "Police were quickly on the scene and have started an investigation. That is in full swing, so we have to wait and see. But it appears to be an anti-Semitic attack, and we are taking that very seriously."