The Dutch Prime Minister condemns the “Jew hunt” after Thursday’s incidents in Amsterdam

MADRID 11 Nov. () –

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof has condemned the “Jew hunt” in reference to the attacks on fans of the Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer team after their clash with Ajax Amsterdam in the Dutch city last Thursday.

“I am ashamed that this could have happened in the Netherlands. The Jews were hunted down,” Schoof said at a press conference in which he defended his Government’s actions despite the fact that he himself was in Hungary during the day of the Friday.

“I was in contact with everyone on Friday morning. I thought it was better to use my energy talking to my European colleagues about anti-Semitism,” he argued, according to the Dutch news portal Parool. “I did everything I had to do,” he stressed in reference to the possibility that he had returned from Hungary.

School has acknowledged in any case that the Netherlands has “failed” in protecting the Jewish community and has referred to the “integration problem” due to the participation of young immigrants in the riots. “It is an absolute moral degeneration,” he noted.

As for the actions of Israeli fans, tearing down Palestinian flags and chanting racist chants, School has rejected the comparison. “Screaming and tearing a flag from a facade is very different from hunting Jews. They are two different things,” he argued.

“Yes, there are people who criticize what the Israelis do, but I am not going to minimize it. There is nothing that justifies anti-Semitic violence,” he stressed.

The Israeli authorities have denounced a “pogrom” due to the “persecution” of Jews and Israelis on the day of the match in the city of Amsterdam. The Dutch authorities have declared a state of emergency in the city, so demonstrations are prohibited. However, on Sunday fifty people were arrested during a pro-Palestinian protest to denounce the violence of Israeli fans.