He claimed in a parliamentary debate that they “want to destroy the Jews” and recommended the expulsion of those found guilty.
While Dutch lawmakers condemned anti-Semitism and agreed that perpetrators of violence should be hunted down, prosecuted and severely punished, opposition lawmakers accused Mr. Wilders of “throwing fuel on the fire” and said declared that his statements were not conducive to “a better society”.
Violence broke out in the Dutch capital before and after last week’s soccer match between Ajax Amsterdam and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Supporters of both camps were involved in unrest; a number of Maccabi supporters attacked a taxi and chanted anti-Arab slogans while some men attacked people they thought were Jewish, according to Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema.
After the match, groups of Maccabi supporters armed with sticks ran around “destroying things,” according to a 12-page report on the violence released by Amsterdam authorities. There were also “rioters, moving in small groups, on foot, on scooters or in cars, quickly attacking Maccabi supporters before disappearing,” according to the report.
Amsterdam police said five people were treated in hospital for injuries caused by the violence. Police had arrested dozens of people before the match, but no immediate arrests for violence were made afterward.
Reports of anti-Semitic speech, vandalism and violence against Jews have been on the rise in Europe since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, and tensions were high in Amsterdam before last Thursday’s soccer match. The attacks on Maccabi fans sparked outrage and were widely condemned as anti-Semitic.
Haven of tolerance
The violence has seriously tarnished Amsterdam’s long-standing image as a haven of tolerance and has sparked soul-searching across the country.
Geert Wilders, whose anti-immigration Freedom Party won elections last year and is now part of a four-way coalition government, said Wednesday that the night Amsterdam commemorated “Night of crystal,” the 1938 anti-Jewish pogrom in Nazi Germany, “we saw Muslims chasing Jews in the streets of Amsterdam,” and he blamed “Moroccans who want to destroy the Jews.”
He added that it was “a miracle that there were no deaths during this roundup, this jihad in the streets of beautiful and ancient Mokum which, last week, looked more like the territory of the ‘Islamic State’.
Mokum is a nickname given to Amsterdam, derived from a Yiddish word, meaning “safe haven.”
Mr. Wilders, who is sometimes described as the Dutch Donald Trump because of his fierce anti-immigration rhetoric, has lived under 24-hour protection for 20 years due to death threats from Islamic extremists. He has also long been a staunch supporter of Israel. In Parliament, he advocated the cancellation of the Dutch passports of those found guilty of involvement in the violence – if they have dual passports – and their expulsion.
Some lawmakers warned that his comments after the violence only deepened divisions in Dutch society.
Rob Jetten, of the centrist D66 party, said Mr Wilders’ rhetoric “does nothing to help with the healing”.
“It does nothing to bring our country together, but it adds fuel to the fire and does not bring solutions against anti-Semitism and for a better society closer together, but only pushes them further apart,” he argued.
Frans Timmermans, who leads the largest center-left bloc in the Dutch parliament, agreed. “What you’re doing is just stirring up tensions, dividing this country when this country needs politicians who bring people together, who bring solutions together,” Mr. Timmermans said.
In Amsterdam, a prominent Jewish city council member, Itay Garmy, said that while there is a lot of anger and fear within the Jewish community, inflammatory remarks serve no purpose.
“Do not use my security, nor my suffering, nor my fears as a Jew to create political advantages and make your points on integration, migration or hatred towards Muslims,” Mr. Garmy said .
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