Hard-right Dutch MP calls to deport ‘Moroccans’ involved in assaults on Jews
Head of anti-immigrant party says ‘Muslims hunted Jews on the streets of Amsterdam,’ urges they be prosecuted on terror charges; comments spark parliamentary backlash
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Hard-right Dutch political leader Geert Wilders on Wednesday joined others blaming “Moroccans” for attacks on Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam last week, saying during a parliamentary debate that they “want to destroy Jews” and recommending deporting those convicted.
While lawmakers condemned antisemitism and agreed that perpetrators of the violence should be tracked down, prosecuted and handed harsh punishments, opposition legislators accused Wilders of “pouring oil on the fire” and said his statements were not conducive to “a better society.”
Violence erupted in the Dutch capital before and after Thursday’s soccer match between Ajax Amsterdam and Maccabi Tel Aviv, with Jewish fans hunted down and attacked by gangs of masked assailants shouting pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel slogans.
Israeli officials said 10 people were injured in the attacks and hundreds had to flee The Netherlands on special flights after being forced to huddle in their hotels for hours amid complaints of weak police protection. Many Israelis said that Dutch security forces were nowhere to be found, as they were ambushed by local Arab and Muslim gangs who hunted, beat and harassed them.
Amsterdam police said five people were hospitalized for injuries in the violence, which also saw groups of men on scooters engaged in “hit-and-run” attacks on Maccabi fans in areas of the city.
Police, who said the assaults were sparked by antisemitic messages online, detained dozens of people before the match, including 10 Israelis, but there were no immediate arrests for violence after the game.
All but four of those arrested before the match have been released, according to a 12-page report on the violence issued by Amsterdam authorities earlier this week.
Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema and other Dutch officials have said the attacks were driven by antisemitism. “Jewish Israeli supporters were guests in our city and they were sought, hunted and attacked via antisemitic calls on social media and on the streets,” Halsema said on Tuesday, though she said that Maccabi supporters had also taken part in violence ahead of the game.
Reports of antisemitic speech, vandalism and violence have been on the rise in Europe since the start of the war in Gaza, and tensions were high in Amsterdam ahead of the soccer match. According to Dutch authorities and accounts on social media, Israeli fans sang anti-Arab songs and ripped down a Palestinian flag ahead of the game.
The violence badly tarnished Amsterdam’s long-held image as a haven of tolerance and sparked soul-searching across the country.
Wilders, whose anti-immigration Party for Freedom won elections last year and now is part of a four-party ruling coalition government, said Wednesday that the perpetrators of the violence against Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were “all Muslims” and “for the most part Moroccans.”
Noting the proximity to the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the 1938 anti-Jewish pogrom in Nazi Germany, Wilders said “we saw Muslims hunting Jews on the streets of Amsterdam,” and blamed ”Moroccans who want to destroy Jews.”
He called for the attackers to be prosecuted “for terrorism” and advocated canceling the Dutch passports of people convicted of involvement in the violence — if they have a double passport — and deporting them.
“For the first time since the Second World War there was a hunt on Jews,” Wilders said, adding “I am sick of being criticized when I tell the truth.”
He added that it was “a miracle that there were no deaths during this roundup, this jihad in the streets of the beautiful old Mokum that last week looked more like Islamic State territory,” he added, using a nickname for Amsterdam derived from Yiddish.
Wilders, who is sometimes described as the Dutch Donald Trump because of his fierce anti-immigration rhetoric, has lived under round-the-clock protection for 20 years because of death threats from Islamic extremists. He has also long been a staunch supporter of Israel.
Some lawmakers warned that his comments in the aftermath only served to deepen divisions in Dutch society.
Rob Jetten, of the centrist D66 party, said Wilders’ rhetoric “does not contribute in any way to healing. In no way does he contribute to bringing our country together, but he throws oil on the fire and thus does not bring solutions against antisemitism and for a better society any closer, but only further away.”
Frans Timmermans, who leads the biggest center-left bloc in parliament, agreed.
“What you are doing is just stirring things up, dividing this country when this country needs politicians who bring people together, who bring solutions closer,” Timmermans said.
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof indicated that the government would present concrete steps to tackle antisemitism on Friday.
Some in Amsterdam have placed blame for the violence on youths from the city’s large Morrocan-Dutch population. The report by Dutch authorities, signed by Halsema, noted the suspicions against Moroccans, but called for police to determine the exact identify the perpetrators to avoid collective blame.
“Antisemitism cannot be answered with racism against others,” the report read. “Jewish Amsterdammers do not become safer if Moroccan and Muslim Amsterdammers become less safe and less free. On the contrary, Moroccan and Muslim Amsterdammers are also disgusted by the violence for which the entire group now seems to be held responsible.”
AFP contributed to this report.
