Rhetoric in Amsterdam clashes anti-migration, anti-Islam
Amsterdam’s mayor called the clashes a pitch-black day for the city, saying that the pro-Jewish reputation of the city was being tarnished.
The clashes were the result of a buildup in tensions over a few days, with hundreds of Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters holding a very vocal rally in the main square before the incident, waving Israeli flags and taking down a Palestinian flag.
But the issue is sensitive here, because most of the Jews who were living here in the 1940s were deported to Nazi concentration camps.
Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema told Al Jazeera that the government was prepared for protests and tensions, but “what happened last night had nothing to do with protest or demonstration, it was crime”.
Halsema described the riots as anti-Semitic and the same rhetoric came from the Geert Wilders’s governing right-wing populist Party for Freedom, which also talked about the possible deportation of the people who were involved in the riots.
So the rhetoric is very much going towards anti-migration and anti-Islam, and while we have been hearing from the far right for many decades, this is now coming from the government.
So the Maccabi soccer hooligans instigated the riots, but those reacting need to be deported?
They need to be charged with civil unrest, attempted assault, not pushed onto another country to deal with it.
Meanwhile the pushback against the soccer hooligans is painted as anti-semitism? Described as pogroms, really?
The hooligans that started this should be arrested, checked if they served in the IDF then send to the ICC for complicity in war crimes, not rescued by Israeli planes. The world upside down.
Bad form from the Dutch police as well. The soccer stadium isn't anywhere near the center. It's in Amsterdam South-East with all the facilities there to keep soccer fans apart and prevent this from happening. Why were they allowed to cause riots on Dam Square.
And why has Fifa still not banned Israel from participating.
On 3 October 2024, FIFA again delayed the decision of suspension, citing that they will first investigate the allegations of discrimination raised by the Palestine Football Association.
Anyway, the Amsterdam Jews (Ajax which I don't know if there are actual Jews in the team, it shouldn't matter anyway) had a resounding victory 5-0 against the well known racist Maccabi club. And the fans continued on at 'home'
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/maccabi-fans-filmed-chanting-racist-slogans-against-arabs-upon-arrival-at-ben-gurion-from-amsterdam/
