What does the 'Jew hunt' in Amsterdam spell out for local leadership? - opinion

As the big players in the Dutch political arena all spoke out condemning what many are calling a ‘pogrom’ against Jewish supporters of Maccabi Tel Aviv, the position of Amsterdam’s mayor seems to be weakening by the hour. Geert Wilders, leader of the largest coalition party in the national government in The Hague, though not a member of the government himself, called for Femke Halsema’s resignation. 

Apart from calling for deportation of the perpetrators of what the rightwing leader in Dutch labeled as a Jodenjacht (which literally translates as ‘Jew hunt’), Wilders wrote on X: “It is completely unacceptable that there wasn’t enough police protection to prevent this violence and protect the people. The mayor of Amsterdam needs to resign today.” Geert Wilders and his Freedom Party have been critical of immigration from muslim countries for almost two decades. Most of the youths that attacked Israeli soccer fans in the Dutch capital were of Moroccan descent.

Wilders even went so far as to attack his coalition’s justice minister David van Weel – a member of the liberal party, also baring the word ‘freedom’ in its name, on X: “Why aren’t you deporting this scum? Where are your proposals to take away citizenship from criminal Muslims? Where is your sense of urgency?” His criticism of Halsema, however, was the most widely echoed on social media. The mayor of Amsterdam, member of the Green Left, has been under fire from the right wing of Dutch society – a majority nowadays – and members of the Jewish community for not acting against antisemitism and violence during anti-Israel protests since October 7th.

Halsema is an outspoken opponent of antisemitism, at least according to her political allies and most notably herself. However, this seems mostly to be in relation to historic Jew hatred.

The Central Jewish Consultation, an umbrella of several Dutch Jewish organizations, was widely criticized – most notably by Esther Voet, editor-in-chief of the New Israelite Weekly for continuing their dialogue with the mayor even after the events of the opening of the National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam, where Halsema herself heard from inside the building how pro-Palestinian demonstrators verbally abused Jewish invitees, amongst whom were children and Holocaust survivors.

Although, she later claimed at a meeting of the city council to not have heard anything. Transcripts of WhatsApp messages however confirmed that she was embarrassed by the mob’s chanting, especially given the presence of Israel’s president Isaac Herzog.

A change in tune

On Friday afternoon, mayor Halsema suddenly banned all political demonstrations, something she had refused to do since October 7th, even when muslim protesters chanted ‘Death to the Jews’ in the streets of her city and extreme leftwing activists destroyed property in excess of 4 million euros while occupying the campus of Amsterdam University and attacked riot police with bricks and biting acid when it tried to clear the vandalized buildings.

Halsema’s move to ban all marches over the weekend is considered particularly strange, since it means no demonstrations to support the Jewish community and condemn the antisemitic violence will be allowed. Which in turn means that there would be no visible criticism of Halsema herself in the streets. 

The question is whether the mayor can weather this storm. It’s one thing to be verbally attacked by Geert Wilders, who is considered an extremist by the left that dominates Amsterdam politics. But even the vehemently non-political Dutch king spoke out against the violence in the streets of his capital.

The royal palace wrote in a statement: “We can’t look away from antisemitic behavior in our streets. (…) Last night we failed the Jewish community again.” Halsema seems to symbolize that failure more than any other Dutch politician.

‘Europe’s capital of Jew hatred’ as some have now dubbed Amsterdam is not a nickname that the mayor will cherish. Especially since the violence in her city was condemned by center-left politicians all over the world, most notably Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz, who this morning wrote on X: “Whoever attacks Jews and Jewesses, attacks us all.” It’s hard to see how the mayor who let this attack happen, will survive the political fallout, even with her huge left-leaning  majority in the Amsterdam city council. 

The writer is Deputy-editor and reporter NIW, the Dutch Jewish Weekly.