The Hague, Netherlands — The Dutch government needs “more time” to flesh out a strategy to fight anti-Semitism after last week’s violence between Israeli football fans and locals, the justice minister has said.
“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 said 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 and Maccabi on November 7.
Amsterdam police chief Peter Holla said that before the match Maccabi fans burned a Palestinian flag, attacked a taxi and chanted anti-Arab slogans, according to city authorities.
They also reportedly booed a minute’s silence during the match for victims of Spain’s recent deadly floods.
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 anti-Semitism.”
‘Pouring oil on the fire’
The authorities have set aside 4.5 million euros ($4.8 million) for the new strategy, including 1.2 million euros for securing Jewish institutions, Dutch media reported.
Schoof told parliament on Wednesday the government was looking at “far-reaching measures” to punish anti-Semitic 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.
Far-right anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders, leader of the biggest party in the coalition government, accused the country’s Muslim community for the unrest.
He demanded perpetrators be prosecuted “for terrorism, lose their passports and kicked out of the country.”
But opposition parties condemned Wilders’ language, saying he was “pouring oil on the fire, abusing the genuine fear and pain of one group to stoke hate against another.”
Many opposition politicians and commentators said that although anti-Semitism was abhorrent, the violence was not one-sided.
The violence took place against the backdrop of an increasingly polarized Europe, with heightened tensions following a rise in anti-Semitic, anti-Israeli and Islamophobic attacks since the start of the war in Gaza.
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