Amsterdam mayor retracts ‘pogrom’ comments after Maccabi-Ajax violence

Amsterdam mayor retracts comments explaining this situation violence It happened after the football match between . Israel and Dutch teams had a “pogrom” earlier this month, he said: Israel He “left over” the Dutch authorities regarding the details of the events.

Mayor Femke Halsema was speaking to the Dutch public broadcaster about NPOs on Sunday evening News Hour program.

Traveling Maccabi Tel Aviv fans on November 6 and 7 created problems Racist, anti-Arab slogans were chanted in different parts of the Dutch capital before the UEFA Europa League match against Amsterdam club Ajax.

Fans were also seen removing at least two people. Palestine Flags on buildings that appear to be residences the night before the game. Following these provocations, clashes broke out between Maccabi fans and Dutch youth before the match, after the match and until late at night.

A large group of Maccabi fans were seen armed with sticks, pipes and stones and clashing with Dutch youths. Videos posted on social media showed people attacking and chasing some Israeli fans.

Haselma told News Time that after the match, for two hours between 12.30 and 02.30, violent incidents suddenly spread throughout the city and were not limited to football fans only.

He said the city “calmed down” around 2:30 a.m.

“The next thing you saw was the image that we were completely bypassed by Israel because Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel held a press conference at 3 a.m. about what was going on in Amsterdam while we were still gathering the facts,” he said.

‘This wasn’t what I wanted’

At a press conference held a day after the violence, Haselma said, “the events we are seeing evoke memories of pogroms.” Approximately 75 percent of the Dutch Jewish population was killed during the Holocaust.

On Sunday, Haselma was asked whether she stood by her words.

“First of all, let me say that the words ‘Jew hunt’ were used. People were going ‘Jew hunting’, they were asking for passports. That night and in the early hours of the morning, I spoke with many Amsterdam Jews on the phone, full of emotion. And what I really want to express is the sadness among Jewish Amsterdammers And it was fear,” he said.

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“But I must say that in the following days I saw how political the word ‘pogrom’ had become, how it had turned into propaganda.”

Haselma stated that the Israeli government was talking about “a Palestinian pogrom on the streets of Amsterdam”, adding that the term pogrom was later used by Dutch politicians “to discriminate against Palestine”. Morocco Amsterdammers and Muslims”.

“These were not my intentions. And this is not what I wanted.”

Asked if he would use the word “pogrom” again, Haselma said: “No, no. If I had known that it would be used in this way for political and propaganda purposes, I would not want anything to do with it.”

“I never made a direct comparison, but I said that I could understand the feelings and wanted to express my sadness. But I am not an instrument of a national and international political struggle.”

Haselma’s comments were described as “absolutely unacceptable” by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar.

“Hundreds of Israeli fans who came to watch the football match were followed, attacked and targeted by a mob who demanded their passports to check whether they were citizens of the Jewish state. There is no other word for this than pogrom,” Saar said. he said in a post In X.

He said Israel was not the first to use the term pogrom to describe the events, but it was used by Dutch politicians, including far-right figure Geert Wilders.

Earlier this month, FairSquare co-founder Nicholas McGeehan told Middle East Eye that Maccabi Tel Aviv fans had a history of racist chants.

“The well-documented racism and violence displayed by Maccabi Tel Aviv fans in Amsterdam reflects the thuggery of the Israeli government in Gaza and Lebanon” said McGeehan.

“This does not excuse the violence against Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, but presenting them as innocent victims of antisemitism is a gross misrepresentation of the facts.”

Last week, Moroccan-Dutch deputy minister Nora Achahbar resigned from the government over racist comments she said she heard from cabinet colleagues regarding events in Amsterdam.

The Dutch coalition, dominated by Wilders’ far-right Freedom Party, nearly collapsed after the resignation, but survived after an emergency meeting.