A line of visitors for the concert forms in front of the entrance to the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Nicely dressed, evening out. “Happy Hanukkah,” are the greetings. People are looking forward to the festival of lights later, with singing on stage by cantor Shai Abramson, but the atmosphere is depressed. The news of the attack in Sydney on a Jewish festival during the celebration of Hanukkah has been widespread. And now, outside the entrance, it is full of police, there are loud anti-Israeli protests around the Concertgebouw, while police dogs sniff the corridors and search for suspicious objects or explosives.
There is a section to the left before the entrance, with about twenty pro-Palestinian demonstrators. And further away a shouting anti-Israeli crowd on Museumplein. “My heart is crying,” says Debbie Nachtegall, who has come to express support for the Jewish community. “It’s already such a black day because of the attack in Sydney. What a tragedy for the Jewish community. And then that,” she points towards Museumplein. “That is pure anti-Semitism.”
While only a handful of pro-Palestinian demonstrators were standing on the grass of Museumplein behind the fences on Sunday afternoon, it was quite full in the evening. According to local media, there are three to four hundred pro-Palestinian demonstrators. An attempt to block the artist entrance and the side entrance to block the arrival of cantor Shai Abramson failed. These are the first arrests of a total of 22. But not the first incident of the weekend. On Saturday afternoon there was a strange smell at the entrance after another concert. Visitors feel nauseous afterwards. It turns out to be a stink bomb of butyric acid. The entrance hall will be temporarily closed.
After weeks of debate and tug-of-war, controversial Israeli cantor Shai Abramson will take the stage of the Concertgebouw on Sunday evening for the start of Hanukkah. The sold-out celebrations, organized by the Chanukah Concert Foundation, have been causing a lot of resistance for weeks because the popular cantor is in close contact with the Israeli army, the IDF. There he is the main cantor at official military ceremonies and ceremonies.
‘Goosebumps’
Initially, his performance at the annual Hanukkah concert was banned by Concertgebouw director Simon Reinink. But after persistent accusations of anti-Semitism, protests and criticism, including at home, the management changed tack. A compromise was reached with the organization: two private evening meetings with the cantor. And the family concert in the Kleine Zaal on Sunday afternoon took place without the singer. According to a spokesperson, this went “quietly and as planned.”
Both supporters and opponents of the Hanukkah festival will make their voices heard on Sunday evening. Joop van der Schaaf and Mariette Brinkman-Goudsmit, who are attending the Hanukkah concert for the first time (the tickets were purchased “before it became a problem”), have goosebumps in the queue. “It’s not that I feel threatened now,” says Brinkman-Goudsmit, “but I find the shouting and noise quite intense and intimidating.” She heard about the cantor that it was someone “who can sing terribly beautifully.” She shrugs at his reputation. “Everyone has to join the army in Israel. I don’t think he’s ever held a gun.”
“The commotion is predictable,” adds husband Van der Schaaf. “And you must uphold the right to demonstrate. But there are no words for this noise. We and our family in Israel are certainly not unbiased, but the social discussion about whether it should continue is out of all proportion.”
On the left the Jewish outdoor celebration of Hanukkah. Right-wing pro-Palestinian demonstrators on Museumplein.
Photo Novel by Flymen / ANP
The Jewish outdoor celebration of Hanukkah, a ‘solidarity moment’ that would take place at the entrance to the Concertgebouw, must be moved by the police to a few hundred meters away, on the corner of De Lairessestraat, Hondecoetersstraat. “We were just driven away,” two women complain to each other. About two hundred people have gathered on the sidewalk with small lights and white and blue Israeli flags around their shoulders.
Lots of police surveillance here too. After a speech by Roger van Oordt, honorary consul of Israel (“We will not let our light go out”), a minute of silence for the victims in Sydney and the singing of various Jewish songs (“Sjalom Aleichem”), Chief Rabbi Jacobs arrives. He lights the first candle of Chanukah, the nine-branched candlestick, and sings ‘Ma’oz Tsur’. One candle against much darkness, he already did that in many places in the country today.
Smoke bombs
Enclosed by fences on Museum Square, the pro-Palestinian demonstrators are divided into two groups. At the front of the fences, a fanatical vanguard with their faces covered demonstrates: smoke bombs color the sky red and green. The speakers are on ten. It sounds ‘Death to the IDF’ (death to the Israeli army). But also a sign: ‘Concert hall: do not give genocide a stage’.
The demonstration board of Annette Mevis (72) reads ‘Proud of AvroTros’, a reference to the Dutch withdrawal from the Eurovision Song Contest. “Because I think it’s great that they have stood their ground, unlike the director of the Concertgebouw,” she says. She thinks the arrival of the Israeli cantor is “very bad.” “That such a person is a cantor for the army and sings for people who are murdering the Palestinians. It’s a shame that a compromise was sought.” The American-Dutch mother and son Susan Peterson and Kelley van Evert also think so. “The Concertgebouw has succumbed to the Israeli lobby.”
Speeches come from the stage at the back of the demonstration area. The atmosphere seems softer at first glance, but the word ‘child murderers’ is chanted from at least a hundred throats. Observers from Amnesty International are walking around everywhere to ensure that the right to demonstrate is not violated.
Tension remains in the air at the front. Additional police on horseback arrive, while the mobile unit lines up opposite the demonstrators. It’s getting too restless, an officer warns. The atmosphere changes, bystanders have to leave. When some fences are pushed over and there is pulling and pushing, the police intervene immediately. Some people are taken away.
The oliebollen stall on the edge of the square quickly closes its shutters. But a major eruption has not occurred. The contrast outside could not be greater with that inside the Concertgebouw, where a sold-out audience claps festively to the music of the Israeli cantor.
Also read
How the arrival of the IDF cantor put the Concertgebouw under pressure
NEW: Give this item as a gift
As an NRC subscriber you can subscribe every month 10 items give as a gift to someone without an NRC subscription. The recipient can read the article directly, without a paywall.
The journalistic principles of NRC