Violence in Amsterdam exposes tensions in Dutch society: ‘We cannot be made enemies’

Maccabi Tel Aviv fans had arrived in the city for a Europa League match against Ajax and images were widely shared the evening before a group of fans scaled a wall to tear down and burn a Palestinian flag.

According to an Amsterdam municipal report, taxis were also attacked and destroyed.

Emine Uğur, a well-known columnist in the Muslim community, says the underlying tensions surrounding the war in Gaza meant that the ensuing violence was “a long time coming.”

She speaks of a lack of recognition of the pain felt by communities affected by conflict that has left many without an outlet for their grief and frustration.

The flag burning incident and anti-Arab chants were seen as a deliberate provocation.

But then social media posts began calling for retaliation, with some using chilling terms such as “Jew hunt.”

On the evening of the match, a pro-Palestinian protest was moved from the Johan Cruyff arena, but violence erupted in the hours that followed.

The twelve-page report from the Amsterdam authorities describes that some Maccabi supporters ‘commit vandalism’ in the city center.

It then focuses on “small groups of rioters… involved in violent hit-and-run actions targeting Israeli supporters and the nightlife crowd” at city center locations. They moved “on foot, by scooter or car… and committed serious assaults.”

Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema described the incidents as very alarming, noting that for some they were a reminder of historic pogroms against Jews.

For a few hours, parts of the Jewish community in a European capital felt as if they were under siege.

These events coincided with the anniversary of the 1938 Nazi pogroms against Jews, also known as Kristallnacht.

That only increased fear among Amsterdam’s Jewish community, although local imams and other members of the Muslim community participated in the commemorations.

Senior members, including Esther Voet, editor of the Dutch Jewish Weekblad, organized emergency shelters and coordinated rescue efforts for people who feared for their lives.