Amsterdam, Netherlands – Tori Egherman, a Jewish writer and researcher who has lived in the Dutch capital for 20 years, still feels angry more than a week after the clashes in Amsterdam.

While sitting in a cafe, a poster with a black dove on him reads “Peace Now”.

The image was created by Dutch graphic designer Max Kisman at the start of Israel’s latest war on Gaza and has since been distributed free of charge to tens of thousands of people.

“What makes me angry is that they come and engage in the most violent and racist behavior and then leave it to us to clean up their mess,” he said of Israeli football club fans involved in last week’s violence.

“This incident causes only Jews and Muslims to suffer the most. “If we are more divided and unable to work together, there is little we can do as a society to improve the current situation.”

On November 8, Maccabi Tel Aviv fans traveling to support the Israeli team playing Dutch team Ajax damaged Palestinian flags and shouted racist and inhumane slogans.

They chanted “there were no children left in Gaza”, called on the Israeli army to “win” and promised to “fuck the Arabs”.

They also attacked the houses of city residents who had Palestinian flags in their windows.

On the way to the match on November 9, they shouted racist slogans again.

Following the match, which Ajax won 5-0, Maccabi fans were chased and attacked by groups on foot and on scooters in what world leaders, including United States President Joe Biden, described as an act of anti-Semitic violence.

Five people were hospitalized, dozens were arrested and police measures have since been stepped up.

“I’m not saying the violence isn’t anti-Semitic. “I really think it’s both inflammatory and anti-Semitic,” said Egherman, 62, who immigrated from the United States.

She added that over the years, she has witnessed “many Jews being called out for using the kippah, just like many Muslim women use the hijab.”

But he said antisemitism was “only accepted if it didn’t come from someone who was white and Dutch.”

‘This was completely expected’

Local activist Sobhi Khatib, a 39-year-old Israeli-born Palestinian who came to Amsterdam decades ago, said: “The more you describe this event in detail, the more you realize how much it was expected.”

Khatib recalled student-led pro-Palestinian protests in early 2024 in which police used batons against demonstrators.

“The violence that took place last week is an escalation of institutional violence that has been present and normalized in Dutch society, especially since the election of (Geert) Wilders last November,” he said, referring to the Islamophobic politician who leads the far-right party. For Freedom (PVV). PVV wins in 2023, becoming the largest party in the House of Representatives.

The Dutch state has tried to maintain control over activists in recent days.

Following the clashes, Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema issued an emergency decree banning protests. But the measure was opposed by some who were angered by Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.

Amsterdam activist and organizer Frank van der Linde attempted to legally challenge the ban.

“We must fight against this oppression by all non-violent means,” he said, adding that curbing freedom of expression risks further deterioration. “The mayor is shooting himself in the foot”

In the lawsuit filed, he argued that the decision violated human rights. The court ruled on November 11 that the ban was justified.

“Repression is a tendency,” van der Linde concluded.

‘This conflict deeply affected Dutch Moroccans’

The Netherlands is home to a large Muslim minority, making up about 5 percent of the population.

Most of them have roots in Morocco and Turkey.

The country’s relations, especially with Dutch Moroccans, are often uneasy.

“There are a lot of Moroccan scum in the Netherlands who make the streets unsafe,” Wilders said during the 2017 election campaign. “If you want to regain your country, make Holland again for the Dutch people, then you can only vote for one party.”

“This conflict deeply affected the Dutch Moroccans in the city much more than the Palestinians,” Khatib said.

Oumaima Al Abdellaoui, a 22-year-old Dutch Moroccan student, often spends her time visiting schools to talk to students about integration. In 2019 he co-authored a book about two cultures in Dutch society.

“Everyone in my communities, both the Islamic community and the Dutch Moroccan community, is scared and angry because of the blame game. “We don’t know what’s going to happen next,” he said, adding that the community is often wrongly blamed for social problems such as lack of housing or crime.

“There is a deep sense that he is not understood and protected by the government or the police.”

He used the Dutch term “tüweederangsburger”, meaning “second-class citizen”, to describe the feeling experienced by many Dutch Moroccans.

He said the attacks on Maccabi fans were condemnable.

“Violence should never be used. “But this violence is a result of marginalization, racist policies and the accumulation of racism within the police force.”

As protesters continue to defy bans, debates over responsibility flare up and minority communities in the Netherlands remain fearful as Israel’s war in Gaza continues.

Approximately 44,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed to date since October 7, when Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel in which 1,139 people were killed and more than 200 were taken prisoner.

Jelle Zijlstra, a 37-year-old Amsterdam-born Jewish theater director and activist, worries that far-right and anti-immigration political groups in the Netherlands will benefit from street clashes in the coming years.

“While all this was happening, we forgot to focus on the people who are suffering the most in Gaza,” he said.

“What we saw last week seemed to be a terrible equivalence that Jews and Muslims are natural enemies… Our authorities have often been very selective about whether they will condemn the forms of antisemitism that suit their agendas. That’s why they use Jews to deflect racist policies and Islamophobic rhetoric.”

Prime Minister Dick Schoof called the riots and attacks “pure anti-Semitic violence” and said there was “a big difference between destroying things and hunting Jews.”

Referring to the suspects behind the attacks on Israeli fans, he suggested the possibility of taking the passports of those who “abandoned society” and said that the violence against Maccabi fans would be investigated.

Contacted by Al Jazeera, the Amsterdam police chief sent a statement acknowledging harassment by those sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, but above all concluding: “I can imagine that Israelis do not feel safe… their welfare is our top priority.”

Amsterdam’s mayoralty said Halsema’s priority was to restore peace and order and therefore could not comment.

Joana Cavaco, a 28-year-old member of the Netherlands-based anti-Zionist Jewish collective Erev Rav, argued that accusing people of Arab descent of antisemitism is unlikely to ease tensions and does not limit open debate about Europe’s role in Syria. Holocaust

“Anti-Semitism is part of Dutch society, it is rooted in this culture,” he said. “When it comes to the memory of the Holocaust, the Dutch point their fingers at the Germans without acknowledging that the Dutch people allowed Jews to die in concentration camps. These are the questions we believe need to be addressed and are trying to mitigate antisemitism. This ensures safety.”

He added that ensuring the security of Palestinians will also lead to the protection of the Jewish people.

Palestinian activist Khatib said he avoids wearing his keffiyeh in public when Maccabi Tel Aviv fans come to Amsterdam.

“I was scared,” he said.

He remains pessimistic about the future of the pro-Palestinian movement in Amsterdam, especially if the national discourse does not develop.

By the end of the interview, another pro-Palestinian protest was emerging a short distance away in Amsterdam’s Dam Square.

Khatib placed his keffiyeh on his shoulders so that it was visible even over his raincoat.