Rabbi Shmuley Boteach posted an Instagram video on the morning of June 30 showing a heated exchange between him and a group of anti-Israel protesters in central Amsterdam.
The video begins with Boteach showing viewers an anti-Israel display with Palestinian flags in the middle of a public square that has “all the blood libels: we Jews are murderers, killers,” Boteach says, adding that “this is one of the things that stokes antisemitism.” The display had various signs accusing Israel of apartheid, supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, accusing Israel of murdering Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and even one sign saying, “Israel is a lying machine Palestine has a right to resist!” An audio recording that says “apartheid is dispossession” can be heard playing in the background. “This is just all pure lies,” Boteach says to the camera.
Boteach then approaches a man wearing a hat with a “Free Palestine!” button on it and a shirt saying “Bank of Palestine on it.” “You kind of hate Israel huh?” Boteach says to the man. Boteach then says: “I’m Jewish, I love Israel. I wish every Arab had the same freedoms as Israel.” The man then appears to call Israel a “criminal state.” “It’s not just Israel, Jews everywhere are criminals. They’re all killers,” Boteach sarcastically responded. “Jews have been killing, drinking Christian blood for thousands of years, they killed Jesus.” Boteach then told the man, “You hate Israel because it’s Jewish, because you hate Jews. We get it.” “Shame on you,” the man replies as he shakes his head.
A crowd then forms around Boteach as he continues to argue with the man. A man wearing a black hat starts asking another man in the crowd, “I’ve been to Gaza, have you been? … have you seen the little kids? Because you didn’t see it so you don’t talk about it.” “You know he’s speaking very aggressively,” Boteach says, before he suddenly says to the man in the black hat: “Don’t touch me. Do not touch me! Do not put a hand on me! Apologize for that now … don’t touch me ever, got it? I’m not afraid of you.” “I’m not afraid of you too,” the man in the black hat replies, telling Boteach to “move away from me.” “Terrorist,” Boteach says as he points at the man in the black hat and walks away. “They think I’m afraid of them.”
The man in the black hat then follows Boteach and says to him, “You’re a terrorist man, attacking these people.” “I’m American by the way,” Boteach replies. The man in the black hat then appears to say, “Oh you’re American Jewish.” “Here we go, American Jews,” Boteach says. “Let’s say it: it’s not about Israel, it’s about Jews, you hate Jews we know that.” The man in the black hat then asks Boteach if he’s a Zionist; Boteach replies that he loves Israel. The man then says, “You love money. Do you love money?” Boteach then bursts out laughing. “I love money. Jews love money … you believe this?” Boteach says, before adding: “They killed a hundred thousand Jews in the Holocaust here in the Netherlands, they want to finish off the rest,” as Boteach points to the man in the black hat.
Eventually, Boteach walks away and says to the man in the black hat, “Just keep your hands off me; you’re a violent man.” The man then replies: “You don’t even see me violent. Please let me be violent!” “I will never fear you ever,” Boteach responds. “Jews are not afraid of people like you.”
The video concludes with Boteach saying to the camera, “The lesson is, you never fear these people. You see immediately he doesn’t hate Israel, he hates Jews. Immediately he says, ‘Jews love money, Jews love this.’ That’s the essence of them … they hate Israel because they hate Jews.”
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