by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Restoring the West
The argument: The normalization of antisemitic violence in the West signals the erosion of the values that give rise to the rule of law, individual dignity, and personal liberty.
WHY IT MATTERS
Thousands of Croatian football fans attended antisemitic rallies in Split, the nation’s second-largest city, chanting slogans that glorified Adolf Hitler, Auschwitz, and Croatia’s shameful Nazi past. What began as a rally for Split’s football team, Hajduk Split, descended into violence, fueled by the visiting team, Ajax Amsterdam, and its historical association with Amsterdam’s Jewish community. Ajax has no formal ties to the Jewish community. Its former stadium stood near Amsterdam’s Jewish population, an association that gave rise to Jewish-themed nicknames and taunts. Apparently, even a phantom association with Jews in another country is enough to provoke antisemitic violence and destruction.
These riots cannot be dismissed as the boorish behavior of a few football fans. Croatia has a complex history of antisemitism and fascism. During World War II, the Ustaše regime allied itself with Nazi Germany and systematically persecuted Jews, ethnic Serbs, and Roma. Decades later, as Yugoslavia broke apart and Croatia gained independence, Croatian nationalists seized upon symbols of Croatian identity, including some from this shameful era. Vestiges of that past resurfaced in Split last week. They reflect Europe’s continuing struggle to preserve national identity without embracing a homicidal aversion to those who are different.