JERUSALEM (JTA) — Dutch protesters threw shoes at a Israeli reservist soldier during a speech in Amsterdam.
Ron Edelheit was speaking at a Women’s International Zionist Organization event Sunday at an Amsterdam hotel while on a visit to his mother. The event had changed locations due to threats. Some 50 demonstrators protested outside the venue.
Edelheit, who holds dual Israeli and Dutch citizenship, had just begun speaking when three youths stood up and threw four shoes at him. Two hit him on the legs. The reservist filed charges against the three youths.
"Today it’s a shoe, tomorrow a knife," Edelheit told the Jerusalem Post.
Edelheit was scheduled to speak next in Belgium.
Earlier this month, Israel’s ambassador to Sweden, Benny Dagan, was hit by a shoe during a presentation at Stockholm University.
Throwing shoes is a sign of disrespect in the Islamic world. There has been a rash of such attacks since an Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at former U.S. President George Bush during a news conference in December.
