A week after the events, the far right is exploiting the violence which followed the match between Ajax Amsterdam and Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Dutch capital. On the agenda for the debate in the House of Representatives this Wednesday, the subject was taken up by the Party for Freedom (PVV), which blamed the events on “Muslims, mainly Moroccans”. The leader of the far-right party, Geert Wilders, included his remarks in his series of anti-immigration and hostile media statements against dual nationals. At the same time, he proposed that the forfeiture of nationality be extended on the grounds of what he describes as “anti-Semitism”.
In the presence of Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof, the Minister of Justice and Security, David van Wee, and the Minister of the Interior, Judith Uitermark, Geert Wilders proposed that “those accused” be prosecuted. for “terrorism”. In this sense, he called on the head of government to request from the public prosecutor that the dual nationals concerned have their Dutch nationality withdrawn, “in particular Moroccans”.
As part of the debate, Denk Labor Party leader Stephan van Baarle questioned Wilders about inflammatory comments made by Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters, including anti-Arab slogans and those in direct support of the ongoing genocide in Gaza, as well as versions of the facts according to which Israeli supporters sought to “drive out the Palestinians”. Avoiding responding, Geert Wilders omitted factual elements, contenting himself with condemning “all forms of violence”. Thus, he argued that these remarks were “incomparable” to what he called “pure hatred of Jews.”
Hostilities began among Israeli supporters
In his remarks, Geert Wilders even considered that any comparison would be “abject”. However, the arrests following the post-match violence included ten Israeli residents, establishing the link with the involvement of Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters in the riots. In their reports, police confirmed that tension rose when face-covered individuals removed a Palestinian flag, chanted anti-Arab slogans and attacked a taxi. The authorities subsequently reported “calls to taxi drivers for mobilization” against the supporters concerned.
Earlier this week, a report from Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema described a “toxic cocktail of anti-Semitism, hooliganism and anger over the conflict in Palestine, Israel and other regions. of the Middle East. Furthermore, the document reveals that the city police were paying attention to the presence of “fanatical” Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters the day before the match.
During a meeting of the city council on Tuesday, the local manager estimated that “justices” had been committed “against Jews” and “minorities sympathetic to the Palestinians” in Amsterdam. Following the violence, gatherings were banned in the city, to prevent any possible confrontation. Pro-Palestinian demonstrations were also banned.
The day before, however, riots broke out in Amsterdam Nieuw-West. A GVB tram was set on fire with fireworks thrown inside, while stones were thrown at a bus. Several other vehicles were damaged.
“Barring the road to Geert Wilders’ fascist project”
Within civil society, among dual nationals, Geert Wilders’ comments shocked people. They are considered to be part of xenophobic controversy rather than political treatment of post-match violence. This is particularly the opinion of Abdou Menebhi, founding president of the EMCEMO association (Euro-Mediterranean Migration and Development Center). Contacted by Yabiladi, the activist deplores an “escalation of points of view at the level of the political class, which uses serious terms like ‘pogrom’, without condemning the acts of Maccabi supporters, but while associating young Moroccans with acts serious, through a shortcut towards anti-Semitism and a rapprochement with terrorism.
In this context, the association criticizes the ideological maneuvers of the far right, as an extension of a controversy provoking political reactions, which move away from the facts of violence and move towards a normalization of anti-migrant discourse.
“Following his anti-Muslim and pro-Israel speeches, even more so since October 7, 2023, without any position favorable to a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, Geert Wilders finds here the ideal opportunity to bring out Draw out his entire political program, which he has defended for a long time and which he seeks to implement, after winning the last elections in the Netherlands.”
Abdou Menebhi
The activist believes that this deleterious climate “targets the entire pro-Palestinian dynamic”. Furthermore, he emphasizes that “we must resist the fascist project and prevent it.” “The withdrawal of citizenship from young Dutch-Moroccans for the reason of being anti-Israel is a way of finding an argument in favor of the expulsion of foreigners, while being part of a political assimilation of the extreme right which calls into question the integration of these people,” further denounces Abdou Menebhi.
On Friday, a conference in Amsterdam will be held by the associative fabric “against all forms of racist discrimination”. According to Abdou Menebhi, this meeting will bring together a broad representation of civil society: NGOs and unions. The objective will be in particular to “think about means, including legal ones, to protect our community and create a big front against any division in Dutch society, a question of life in democracy and the rule of law”.
