Dutch government says it needs ‘more time’ to implement antisemitism strategy
Right-wing politicians call for those who attacked Israelis in Amsterdam to be deported; opposition says rhetoric is ‘pouring oil on the fire’
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The Dutch government needs “more time” to flesh out a strategy to fight antisemitism after last week’s violence against Israeli soccer fans, the country’s justice minister wrote on Thursday.
“Because of the terrible events of November 7 and 8 and because I want to promote a fruitful debate in parliament, I have decided to take more time to get a strategy ready,” Justice Minister David van Weel said.
“The strategy will soon be sent to parliament,” he wrote in a letter to MPs, published late on Thursday.
Prime Minister Dick Schoof promised “far-reaching measures” earlier this week.
He said they would be announced after a cabinet meeting on Friday but this now seems to be postponed.
The discussions follow violence in the streets of Amsterdam before and after the Europa League match between Dutch giants Ajax Amsterdam and Maccabi Tel Aviv on November 7.
Israeli officials said 10 people were injured in the Thursday night violence carried out by local Arab and Muslim gangs against Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer fans. Hundreds more Israelis huddled in their hotels for hours, fearing they could be attacked. Many said that Dutch security forces were nowhere to be found, as the Israeli tourists were ambushed by gangs of masked assailants who shouted pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel slogans while they hunted, beat and harassed them.
According to the Amsterdam police, five Israelis were injured and hospitalized in the attacks.
After the game, youths on scooters engaged in “hit-and-run” assaults on Maccabi fans, officials said. Some social media posts had included calls to “hunt Jews,” according to police.
Schoof said the attacks amounted to “unadulterated antisemitism.”
Amsterdam police chief Peter Holla said that before the match, Maccabi fans burned a Palestinian flag, attacked a taxi and chanted anti-Arab slogans.
‘Pouring oil on the fire’
The authorities have set aside €4.5 million ($4.8 million) for the new strategy, including €1.2 million for securing Jewish institutions, Dutch media reported.
Schoof told parliament on Wednesday the government was looking at “far-reaching measures” to punish antisemitic violence.
This included the possibility of scrapping Dutch nationality for people with dual nationality.
Police, prosecutors and other law authorities have launched a massive probe into the incidents surrounding the Maccabi-Ajax match, with eight suspects behind bars so far.
Right-wing anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders, leader of the biggest party in the coalition government, accused the country’s Muslim community over the unrest.
He demanded perpetrators be prosecuted “for terrorism, lose their passports and kicked out of the country”.
But opposition parties condemned Wilders’s language, saying he was “pouring oil on the fire, abusing the genuine fear and pain of one group to stoke hate against another.”
The violence took place against the backdrop of an increasingly polarized Europe, with heightened tensions following a rise in antisemitic, anti-Israeli and Islamophobic attacks since the start of the war in Gaza.
The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists invaded Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 251 to Gaza.
Times of Israel Staff contributed to this report.
