The wave of anti-Semitic violence in Amsterdam threatens to bring down the coalition government

The violence that erupted on the streets of Amsterdam last week – with accusations of a organized “hunt” for Jews with the fans of the visiting Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv and tense protests in the following days – has triggered a political crisis in the Netherlands that threatens to bring down the coalition governmentaccording to several local media reports.

The Dutch Council of Ministers met urgently this Friday over the Government’s management of the violence unleashed in the streets of the capital and alleged racist comments poured by members of the Executive.

Nora Achahbarthe Secretary of State for Benefits and Customs of the coalition led by the anti-Muslim populist PVV party of Geert Wilders presented his resignation this Friday due to the statements of several members of the Government during the Council of Ministers last Monday, in which they analyzed the clashes around the Europa League match between Ajax Amsterdam and Maccabi Tel Aviv, several reported media citing cabinet sources.

Achahbar’s resignation came after a turbulent week in Amsterdam, where the local police department said It was Maccabi fans who started the incidents by attacking a taxi and burning a Palestinian flag before being chased and beaten by gangs on scooters.

Along the same lines, pro-Palestinian activists assured that Maccabi supporters had armed themselves with sticks and stones and had shouted provocative anti-Arab chants.

Israeli and Dutch politicians called “anti-Semitic” those attacks and compared them to the persecution of the Jews during World War II.

The prime minister Dick Schoof went so far as to say on Monday that the incidents show that some of the young people in the Netherlands with migratory backgrounds they do not share “the fundamental Dutch values”.

Achahbar’s resignation led to Friday’s Cabinet meeting in which other ministers from his NSC party also threatened to resignas reported by radio stations NOS and RTL citing government sources.

Achahbar considered that several members of the government had crossed a line with hurtful and possibly racist comments about the attacks on Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam and the riots in the days after the match, the Dutch newspaper reported. From Volkskrant.

Wilder has repeatedly said that young Dutch men of Moroccan descent were the main attackers of Israeli fans, although the police have not given details about the background or identity of the suspects.

NSC leaders have been summoned to a cabinet meeting this Friday night, media reported.

If the NSC eventually withdraws, the three other members of the coalition would have two exits: move forward as a minority coalition or call early elections.