Dutch MP Wilders wants to deport those convicted of violence against Israeli soccer fans

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Dutch far-right political leader Geert Wilders Wednesday, he blamed the “Moroccans” attacks on Israeli football fans in Amsterdam last week, saying they “want to destroy Jews” and recommending the expulsion of those found guilty of involvement if they have dual nationality.

While lawmakers condemned anti-Semitism and agreed that perpetrators of the violence should be prosecuted and severely punished, opposition lawmakers accused Wilders of “throwing fuel on the fire” and said his statements during a parliamentary debate were not conducive to “a better society”.

Violence broke out in the Dutch capital before and after last week’s soccer match between Ajax Amsterdam and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Supporters from both sides were involved in the unrest; A number of Maccabi fans attacked a taxi and chanted anti-Arab slogans while some men carried out hit-and-run attacks on people they thought were Jews, according to Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema .

After the match, parts of a large group of Maccabi fans armed with sticks ran around “destroying things,” according to a 12-page report on the violence released by Amsterdam authorities. There were also “rioters, moving in small groups, on foot, on scooters or in cars, quickly attacking Maccabi supporters before disappearing,” the statement said.

Amsterdam police said five people were hospitalized with injuries. Police arrested dozens of people before the match, but no immediate arrests for violence were made after the match.

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered in Amsterdam’s central Dam Square on Wednesday evening to demonstrate despite a new ban on such gatherings by the city. Large numbers of police, some on horseback, were present and arrested most of the protesters after they refused to leave, escorting most of them peacefully onto two buses and chasing them from the square.

Reports of Anti-Semitic speech, vandalism and violence have been on the rise in Europe since the start of the war in Gazaand tensions were high in Amsterdam before the football match. The attacks on Maccabi fans sparked outrage and were widely condemned as anti-Semitic.

The violence has seriously tarnished Amsterdam’s long-standing image as a haven of tolerance and sparked soul-searching across the country.

Wilders, whose anti-immigration Freedom Party won elections last year and is now part of a four-party coalition government, said Wednesday that on the night Amsterdam commemorated Kristallnacht, the pogrom anti-Jewish 1938 in Nazi Germany, “we saw Muslims hunting down Jews in the streets of Amsterdam”, and blaming “Moroccans who want to destroy the Jews”.

He gave no proof. Police and prosecutors have not released the identities of any of the arrested suspects, in line with Dutch confidentiality rules.

Wilders called for the cancellation of the Dutch passports of those found guilty of involvement in the violence – if they have dual passports – and their deportation.

Wilders, who is sometimes described as the The Dutch Donald Trump because of his fierce anti-immigration rhetoric, has lived under 24-hour protection for 20 years due to death threats from Islamist extremists. He has also long been a staunch supporter of Israel.

Some lawmakers warned that his new comments only served to deepen divisions within Dutch society.

Rob Jetten, of the centrist D66 party, said Wilders’ rhetoric “does not contribute to healing in any way. He does not contribute in any way to bringing our country together, but he adds fuel to the fire and does not bring therefore no solutions against anti-Semitism and for a better society closer, but only further away.

Frans Timmermans, who leads the largest center-left bloc in parliament, agrees.

“What you’re doing is just fueling things, dividing this country when this country needs politicians who bring people together, who bring solutions together,” Timmermans said.

In Amsterdam, a prominent Jewish city council member, Itay Garmy, said that while there is a lot of anger and fear within the Jewish community, inflammatory remarks would not help.

“Do not use my safety, my suffering or my fear as a Jew to create political gains and make your points on integration, migration or Muslim hatred,” Garmy said.

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Associated Press writer Bram Janssen in Amsterdam contributed to this report.