Cabinet member quits over colleagues’ "racist" positions after Amsterdam riots
State Secretary Nora Achahbar will tender her resignation to Prime Minister Dick Schoof later on Friday due to dissatisfaction over how the Cabinet handled the riots in Amsterdam following last week's Europa League match between Ajax and Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv, sources told NOS and ANP. Tensions arose during the first Cabinet meeting after the violence and unrest in the capital, when Achahbar's colleagues expressed opinions and positions which Achahbar considered to be racist remarks about people from ethnically diverse backgrounds, both media outlets reported on Friday afternoon
She will be the second member of Schoof's Cabinet to resign this month. The 42-year-old woman was born in Morocco, and has lived since a young age in the Netherlands, where her father was employed as a guest worker. She was on the 2023 election ballot as a NSC member, and was tapped as that party's state secretary at the Ministry of Finance for social benefits and the Dutch Customs office.
Achahbar, who advocated on behalf of child asylum seekers in her early career, was also unnerved by at least one other colleague on the Cabinet, Chris Jansen. The PVV member refused to distance himself from party leader Geert Wilders' years-old campaign rally where he gave a rousing speech calling for "fewer Moroccans" in the Netherlands. Wilders was brought up on hate speech charges for the remarks. The PVV is the largest party in the coalition with the VVD, NSC and BBB.
Another Cabinet member, Jurgen Nobel, commented after the rioting to criticize young Islamic people as an entire group. The VVD state secretary is responsible for integration policy, and he claimed that young Islamic people do not support Dutch customs.
Sources told NOS that Achahbar spoke out during Monday’s meeting about objections she had to certain language used by her colleagues. The sources also said that Achahbar’s position was causing concern among other NSC Cabinet members. ANP noted that the NSC is apparently very far apart from the other three Cabinet members in their stance on the rioting and the aftermath.
Schoof complained on Friday morning that both his remarks, and comments from his Cabinet members, were being misinterpreted. He expressed frustration to ANP on his way into the weekly Council of Ministers meeting.
Another NSC member, Folkert Idsinga, resigned as State Secretary of Taxation amid controversy. He stepped down because he refused to divulge his business interests, and the resulting comments made by PVV leader Geert Wilders. Idsinga's role was also under the Ministry of Finance.
News of Achahbar's pending resignation came almost simultaneously with the issuance of a press release from government media office RVD that Idsinga's role was officially filled. King Willem-Alexander swore in NSC MP Tjebbe van Oostenbruggen as the new State Secretary of Taxation.
Schoof says Cabinet’s “integration problem” comments are being “misinterpreted”
Schoof said he was angry that his and his Cabinet’s comments about the Amsterdam riots being an “integration problem” are being “misinterpreted,” he told the media as he headed into the Council of Ministers on Friday. “I find it more than annoying if that is interpreted as I would not be there for all Dutch people, because that is what I really want to be,” Schoof told ANP.
During a parliamentary debate on the unrest in Amsterdam, Schoof defended his statements about an integration problem by saying he wasn’t talking about all immigrants, only the group of young people who have “turned away from society,” he said. “To others, I say: no, that is not about you, I stand with the good who suffer under the bad.”
Being “one of the good ones” is a microaggression often faced by people in a minority population group.
On Friday, Schoof again spoke aobut the perpetrators of rioting in the Dutch capital over the past week. “Please note that these are young people with a migration background they have turned their back to Dutch society,” Schoof said. According to him, it is important to keep mentioning that. He also said that his statement about integration “referred to those young people.”
According to Schoof, the Muslims, Moroccans, and other ethnic minorities who feel dismissed by the Dutch government “are not part of that problem.”
Charges pressed against State Sec. Nobel
The mosque umbrella organization K7 is pressing charges against State Secretary Jurgen Nobel (Integration) for saying on Monday that the attacks on Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters show that Islamic youth “to a large extent do not subscribe to our Dutch standards and values.” The group of mosques is accusing the VVD politician of group insult, sowing hatred, and discrimination.
On Friday, Nobel told Parool that he had no regrets about pointing out Muslim youth after the riots. He pointed out that he immediately noted that many Islamic youth do adhere to Dutch values and standards. “At the same time, I will continue to point it out, that is also my task as State Secretary,” he said.
Nobel “would have preferred that they had simply entered into a discussion with me,” he said as he entered the Council of Ministers meeting. “But everyone can and may file a complaint.” He said he was willing to continue a dialogue, but would not reach out to the K7. A few hours later, he said he wanted to talk to the mosques and didn’t mean to offend people.
