A man waving a Palestinian flag launched an attack on a Jewish restaurant in Amsterdam just hours after Trump announced that the US now recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Video filmed by a bystander shows the man using a piece of wood to smash in the windows of the kosher restaurant in Willemspark, one of Amsterdam’s most affluent neighbourhoods, on Thursday morning.
The man was recorded screaming ‘Allahu Akbar’ – God is Great – during the attack which a Dutch Jewish organisation has branded ‘an act of terror’.
Shocking: Video footage starts with the man standing outside a Jewish restaurant in Amsterdam waving a Palestine flag
Attack: As two police officers approach him, he uses the piece of wood in his hand to smash the windows of the venue
Video shows how two police officers appear to try to calm him down, but he continues to vandalise the front of the building, before breaking into the seemingly closed venue through the glass door.
The footage from AT5 shows the man, who is wearing a black and white Keffiyeh scarf which has become a symbol of Palestine, emerge from the restaurant with an Israeli flag.
As soon as he comes out again, the two police officers spray him with pepper spray and slam him to the ground.
Amsterdam police said in a statement that a 29-year-old man had been arrested after the incident and that an investigation has been launched.
A spokesperson confirmed to MailOnline that police had arrived at the scene and arrested the suspect within five minutes of being called at around 10.50am.
Police made efforts to speak to the perpetrator and make a non-violent arrest, but were forced to use pepper spray to subdue him.
‘We are disgusted,’ the Organization of Jewish Communities in The Netherlands said in a statement in response to the attack.
The attack was ‘an act of revenge, meant to instil fear, and is no less than an act of terror.’
The 29-year-old, described as ‘residing in the Netherlands, has been remanded in custody and charged with criminal damage.
Dutch media has linked the attack to the President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital on Wednesday evening.
Vandalism: The 29-year-old then breaks into the restaurant and comes out wielding an Israeli flag stolen from inside
Taken down: After making several attempts to talk to the attacker, police are forced to use pepper spray to subdue the attacker
Amsterdam police confirmed that the 29-year-old has been remanded in custody and charged with criminal damage after Thursday morning’s incident
Today, the Islamist group Hamas urged Palestinians on to abandon peace efforts and launch a new uprising against Israel.
‘We should call for and we should work on launching an intifada (Palestinian uprising) in the face of the Zionist enemy,’ Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said in a speech in Gaza.
Haniyeh, elected the group’s overall leader in May, urged Palestinians, Muslims and Arabs to hold rallies against the U.S decision on Friday, calling it a ‘day of rage’.
The status of Jerusalem – home to sites holy to the Muslim, Jewish and Christian religions – is one of the biggest obstacles to reaching a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
Israel already considers the whole of Jerusalem its capital, while Palestinians want eastern Jerusalem as the capital of an independent Palestine state.
Anger: A child holds a Palestinian flag as he chants slogans during a sit-in in the Bourj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp, in Beirut, Lebanon as US President Trump’s recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel on Wednesday
Response: While these women joined a peaceful protest in Gaza City, Islamist group Hamas urged Palestinians on to abandon peace efforts and launch a new uprising against Israel
Trump announced his administration would begin a process of moving the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a step expected to take years and one that his predecessors opted not to take to avoid inflaming tensions.
A number of world leaders have been critical of Trump’s move, including leading politicians in France, the UK, Turkey and across the Middle East. Both China and Russia have also expressed concern.
The EU’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said: ‘The European Union has a clear and united position. We believe the only realistic solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine is based on two states and with Jerusalem as the capital of both.’
The United Nations Security Council is likely to meet on Friday to discuss the U.S. decision, diplomats said.