Anti-Israel groups to protest outside Hanukkah concert with IDF cantor in Amsterdam

Several Dutch anti-Israel groups plan to protest tomorrow outside of Amsterdam’s Royal Concert Hall, where IDF chief cantor Shai Abramson will perform a series of Hanukkah concerts after a previous ban on his performance was overturned.

Groups, including an anti-Zionist Jewish collective called Erev Rav, plan to hold alternative Hanukkah programming, including the public lighting of a Hanukkah menorah in the square across from the concert hall in protest of what they call the IDF’s “ongoing genocide” in Gaza.

In early November, the hall, also known as Concertgebouw, said it would cancel the December 14 concert due to Abramson’s appearance on the program. However, after the announcement caused an international uproar, it later reached a compromise with the event’s organizers. While the main concert on Sunday afternoon will be held without Abramson’s presence, he will perform at two private concerts later in the evening.

Erev Rav says its protest will be peaceful, “but we cannot predict how authorities or counter-protesters may respond.”

“Please assess your own risk tolerance and make informed decisions about participation,” it says in a post on social media.