The Government of the Netherlands avoided breaking up on Friday night after a marathon day of discussions between the four partners of the right-wing coalition, led by the Party for Freedom (PVV) of ultra leader Geert Wilders. The riots recorded a week ago after the match between Ajax Amsterdam and Maccabi Tel Aviv, resulting in 62 arrests and 35 injuries, have shaken the national conscience and divided the Executive. Discussions about the role played by anti-Semitism, the integration of immigrants and Islam in what happened have dominated the week to the point of almost breaking the Executive, within which there were already differences.
The triggering factor for the crisis has been the resignation, confirmed on Friday, of the Secretary of State for Subsidies and Customs, Nora Achahbar. The politician of Moroccan origin has left due to her discontent with the tone of the debate on integration, which especially singled out the migrant and Muslim population. The police have indicated that among those arrested on the streets of Amsterdam after the football match were also Maccabi fans. Apart from that, the origin of those arrested has not been specified.
Achahbar is part of the New Social Contract party, which considers itself the guardian of respect for the rule of law. When the Secretary of State thought that the discussions in the coalition were taking on racist overtones, she submitted her resignation. For now, the Executive continues without her for whom a replacement is already being sought.
Although Achahbar’s departure has precipitated a crisis stopped at the last moment; Shortly after the riots surrounding the soccer match, Prime Minister Dick Schoof declared that there was “an integration problem” in the Netherlands. He also described the incidents as “acts of anti-Semitic violence that cannot be justified”: “Everyone in the Netherlands, and myself, should be ashamed of it.” Until now, Schoof, in the exercise of his position, had been cautious and appeasing, so the tone of his words was surprising.
Ajax and Maccabi met on November 7, and sport gave way to embarrassment. Israeli fans tore down and burned Palestinian flags, raising tension in central Amsterdam with chants about the war in Gaza and against Palestine. After the match, Maccabi fans were attacked as they returned to their hotels, according to local police. These scenes went around the world because at times Israeli citizens were chased through the streets of the capital by groups of hotheads.
In the Netherlands – with a population of 18 million people – there are 189,000 Dutch of Moroccan origin and 165,000 of Turkish descent, according to the Central Statistics Office. The number of Jews is estimated between 30,000 and 50,000, with the majority living in and around Amsterdam, according to CIDI (Dutch Information and Documentation Center Israel).
After the game, Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said the men riding through the streets on motorbikes attacking Maccabi fans reminded her of “the pogroms against the Jewish people.” To which he added that no provocation on the part of Maccabi fans justified the actions. The match coincided with the anniversary of Kristallnacht, when, in 1938, the Nazis carried out a pogrom against Germany’s Jewish population.
In the midst of this debate, which remains open, and the demonstrations in favor of Palestine, allowed and prohibited throughout the week; the ultra Geert Wilders has shown his good harmony with Israel. Although he is technically only the spokesperson for the PVV in Congress, Wilders went to the airport to receive the Israeli Foreign Minister, Gideon Saar, who traveled to the Netherlands after the acts of violence recorded. Although Wilders does not lead the Government, he is capable of putting it in trouble.
