The November unrest flared up in the Netherlands due to advocates of Palestinian freedom and self-determination being attacked on two fronts. This includes hardline Zionist zealots expressing solidarity with "Israel" and vilifying Palestinians and Arabs through violent attacks and hate speech, and the Dutch authorities clamping down on legitimate dissent and freedom of speech.

For a country claiming to uphold democratic traditions of freedom of speech, conscience, assembly, and expression, however, the handling of legitimate anti-"Israel" protests is reprehensible. Local Dutch police arresting individuals as young as 17 and 18 over so-called ‘anti-Semitic’ attacks are taking place as pro-"Israel" bigots are allowed to openly call for death to Arabs and genocide. This reveals a glaring double standard in the Netherlands which deserves unequivocal condemnation.  

Irrational Conflation of Zionism with Anti-Semitism

The arrests by Dutch authorities follow pro-Palestinian supporters hailing from different ethnicities, beliefs, races, and communities expressing anger at the Israeli football team, Maccabi Tel Aviv, who were playing a match against local Dutch team Ajax. The public anger stems from "Israel’s" relentless genocide in Gaza, Syria, and Lebanon, which has shown no sign of abating, and mounting casualties from killing sprees in the form of the deliberate burning of women and children, the torching of refugee camps and the destruction of localities across the Strip and beyond. This prompted the large immigrant population in the Netherlands, alongside non-Zionist Jewish citizens and Palestine sympathizers, to express disapproval of sporting ties between a genocidal regime and their host/home country.

The protests, however, were muzzled out by the Dutch authorities, which is an alarming reality given the historical context of the country in which they are taking place. The Netherlands has a toxic colonial legacy characterized by subjugation of indigenous populations in regions constituting modern-day Indonesia and the Republic of South Africa. Such subjugation came in the form of institutionalized racism, exploitation of local resources, and the weaponization of Dutch supremacy on occupied lands.

As a result, for the leadership of Dick Schoor, which has already called for tougher stances on immigration and limits on foreign students studying in the Netherlands, turning a blind eye to sporting ties with "Israel" is condemnable and unacceptable for pro-Palestine advocates. Even more unacceptable is how the ruling government in Amsterdam has sought to stifle legitimate dissent and allowed genocidal hate mongers to carry on with their activities with impunity. For advocates of Palestinian freedom, the arrests reveal a disturbing reality of racial stereotyping and Islamophobia.

The Schoor government also responded to Palestinian agitation by quickly labeling the protesters as miscreants and ‘anti-Semites’. This is not only factually incorrect but constitutes a conscious attempt to delegitimize a legitimate struggle against oppression. One Dutch, non-Arab protester, Alexander Van Stokkum for example, stated that the 2024 protest has nothing to do with anti-Semitism and everything to do with Israeli vandalism in Amsterdam. Another Dutch activist, Frank Van Der Linde, also made it clear that his motivation to protest was due to the genocide in Gaza.

Beyond such protester clarification is the fact that the Schoor government’s assertion of anti-Semitism has been challenged by an Israeli think tank, Mitvim, which has labeled it as a flawed interpretation. The director of Mitvim’s Israel-Europe Relations Program, Dr. Maya Sion-Tzidkiyahu, clearly stated the demonstrators were not anti-Semitic or against Jews but were against Zionism and "Israel’s" policies in Gaza. Such an important distinction, however, has been deliberately ignored by Dutch authorities despite thousands of Jews across Europe and the United States joining their Palestinian counterparts in denouncing "Israel’s" crimes against humanity.

Free pass to Zionist zealots

Dr. Tzidkiyahu made another observation which warrants attention. The 2024 Palestinian protests in Amsterdam were not a deliberate attempt to target Jews (as presented by Israeli media outlets) but were a reaction to Zionist zealots tearing up Palestinian flags and calling for the death of Arabs. Those responsible include Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters who openly expressed vile, derogatory, discriminatory, and racist views against pro-Palestine protesters and their supporters. Additionally, they were involved in vandalism on properties and chanted incendiary slogans on social media. However, this too was ignored by Dutch law enforcement authorities who sought to arrest Palestinian protesters instead. Such lack of action against the instigators of the violence reveals a clear bias against Palestinian advocacy in favor of Zionist bigotry. 

By employing such double standards, the Schoor administration has allowed Zionists and bigots to hold rallies and protests in solidarity with Maccabi Tel Aviv, which foments unrest and incites supporters to rally behind Israeli sport and "Israel" itself. Such measures are unbecoming of the Netherlands and indicative of a mindset which has permeated into mainstream political and media discourse in the country where "Israel" is always a victim of terrorism, while freedom fighters and protesters agitating against years of oppression and neo-colonialism become criminals, terrorists, and miscreants.

The Netherlands however, is not an outlier in this regard. Such action is similar to how other countries in Europe such as Germany have dealt with legitimate agitation from pro-Palestinian voices. Germany for example, has cited historical guilt for the Holocaust to muzzle Palestinian dissent and employed police brutality against German citizens, immigrants, Arabs, and Muslims in response to denunciation of "Israel’s" genocide. The truth, however, is that the German approach provides a cover for "Israel" to carry out its genocide in the absence of public criticism, which is a disgrace to the Holocaust itself.

For the Netherlands however, its colonial past has not served any lessons, and the duplicity with which Amsterdam has handled the 2024 pro-Palestine protests is indicative of this fact.